Ricky Ponting : time to retire now

Ricky Ponting fell for a duck in the first innings of the ongoing 2nd Test vs South Africa. When he should have scoring a 100 to save his career, instead he has fallen for a duck.

And that should be it for his career. The curtain should fall on his illustrious, controversial and colorful career. Ponting the man who led Australia to its decline from the top, the man who led them to a world cup loss earlier this year, the man who lost 3 Ashes, none of the Aussie captains before him lost even one, the man who hasnt scored a 100 in 2 years, a 50 in one year, now should walk in retirement. 

The man who led Australia to all glories when he had a great team to his disposal, something which he got as legacy of Steve Waugh, failed to win a single game when those great players retired.  He lost in England twice, lost Ashes in Australia becoming first Australian captain to lose a series to England in 24 years, he lost to South Africa in 2008, lost to India twice 0-2. Actually he never won a test in India as captain. 

He had a very ugly role to play in the drama of Sydney test in 2008.  He never walked when he had nicked one to the keeper, but was prominent in appealing the catches which were not clean.  He believes he has been good in nets and he deserves chances to get that elusive big innings soon that shall redeem his career. But he is no Tendulkar or Dravid or even Lara.

The runs aint coming to him, his decline which seemed to be a small patch is now a terminal decline. And if he has to be remembered as a great Australian batsman, then he should retire on his own. Else the bloody Indians await and this time they certainly would want to win the elusive series in Australia, which they have failed to do so courtesy Steve Bucknor in 2008 and 2004.  And India would ensure that his career average shall drop even further.

Fallen Australian heroes

9/21 for a team that not so long ago was world beater and perhaps the greatest Test team of the modern era. The scoreline of 47 might have saved them from holding the pitiful record of lowest Test score, but it has certainly raised a lot of uncomfortable questions over the ability and composure of Australian team. They have now been bowled over under 100 for 3 times in last 15 months or so in different countries. 98 in MCG, 47 in NewLands and 88 in Headingley.

When ball moves, Australiam batsman shievers. Perhaps Shahid Afridi should have quipped on a moving leg of Aussie batsman on facing Shoaib Akhtar.

There have been demands for axing of 3 players who havent been performing at all. Mitch Johnson, Phil Hughes and the once great Ricky Ponting. 

Johnson has really struggled over past few Tests and hasnt got the wickets a spearhead is expected to. 33 wickets at 43 in 12 tests over 18 months dont do the justice to a bowler who has to step in the shoes of likes of Bret Lee and even Glenn McGrath.

Shane Watson is overworked, he is the best Australian bowler over last 18 months with 3 5-fors but he also opens the batting and that makes him prone to batting failures. 

Their batting isnt the same as it was even in 2008, let alone 2007.  The likes of Ponting are in terminal decline, what it seemed a slump, is now a prolonged decline. Perhaps selectors would need to take a call on his future sooner than later. 

The media back home in Australia is impatient and is gunning for the heads of the fallen heroes of NewLands.

And it would be great that this slump continues till the end of their summer at least India is then able to win its first series in Australia, which they were denied in 2004 and 2008.

India's through to the semifinals

Australia's World cup run has ended. And in what a style. India was the team who did it. They have twice ended their run of 17 tests wins and now 12 years of unbeaten World cup run has been ended by the team called India. 

None gave India the chance to beat Australia today given the way they played in the league games. League games saw India taking few games easy and most of the experts called India a undeserving favorites. 

India has never thumped minnows. Thats Lankan speciality. India is known to beat big teams. Australia to be precise. The quality that two teams produce is of highest order. No half measures. Emotions run high, banters and everybody gives more than 100%. 

Everybody within the 2 teams want to win and not give an inch to the other team. And probably thats the reason why Tests or ODIs between this 2 teams are sparkling and intense. 

Today's game was no different. It saw Ricky Ponting ending his century draught. It saw Indians fielding the best in the entire tournament. It saw MSD handling his bowlers too well and rarely earning plaudits from the pundits in the commentary box. 

Tendulkar was at his imperious best before walking yet again. Gambhir was furious when he was out run out in the 3rd attempt, but that was his fault. Yuvraj replied to his anger saying he is not Viru and  they havent batted together that much. Point taken. 

India committed harakiri but then Yuvraj the man came to the fore yet again. What a world cup he is having. 341 runs and 12 wickets with 4 MoM awards. He is India's man of the moment. Not too long ago his commitment was questioned and so was his place and attitude. He's replied to every one those who questioned him. 

Virat Kohli continues to be an ass finding newer ways to get out. MSD continued his wretched run and when he departed at 187 the match was boiling towards Aussies but then in came Raina and the next 2 overs that got us 27 runs changing the equation dramatically in India's favor. 

Think about the commitment of Bret Lee. He was injured on head just above left / right eye and yet he bowled last 2 overs. He wanted to win it. But India had some other plans.  India are through to their 5th semifinal and 3rd one at home. This time they should go one step better. Beat Pakistan and go through to the finals. 

Today was that day when everything went right for India -- the fielding, bowling and batting. Ashvin took 2 wickets. How many runs did he give ? 52. Did he turn the ball square? How many wickets he got with peach of a ball ? Wild slogs both time to get Ponting and Watson.  He has not done any better than Chawla.

India have to think about Munaf what to do about this guy. He is listless, needless and useless. Anybody can hit him for runs. He doesnt take wickets, he cant field and he is even lax on the field.  Either play Nehra or get in Sreesanth. 

Today's win provides an deep feeling of satisfaction. India has come to full elements. And it would take huge effort from Pakistan to stop India from playing finals.  But thats for another day. 

Ponting has had his moments under sun for 12 years in World cups  but now its time for new champion. New team to take the reins. And hopefully it would be India, for the consistent run it has shown in ODIs post 2008.

Wooohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo we are in semis. 

India win by 80 runs

India won and they play next Australia. Australia's quest for the 5th title is going to end in Ahmedabad and Ponting is going to continue walking to his ODI sunset. Doesnt matter if he does not walk on the field.

India won by 80 runs however not before getting a scare when Devon Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan were batting with ease. That time, the Indians had given up on the chase and they looked despirited, deflated and even disinterested.

It took Zaheer to strike once again as in England game to bring India back in the game and after that Windies choked or they just didnt have it in them to win from the strong position they had for 2nd game in running. R Ashvin made his way to the team on his home ground and got 2 wickets. Well he didnt inspire a lot of confidence as in that he shall turn the bowling woes to riches. He got 2 wickets, which even Nehra got that day and even Chawla got. 

He didnt turn the ball square on a pitch he knows more than anybody else other than Tendulkar. He didnt bowl that many carrom balls....So whats the hype and talk all about? Harbhajan Singh was useless in the first spell but then it took his maiden over to get Zaheer strike off Smith's stumps in his 2nd spell. 

Munaf Patel, well he is as useless in the team as is Yusuf Pathan, the fuddi Pathan. Good for nothing lads. Cant bat, cant bowl and cant field. 2 liabilities. Munaf did a ugly swipe in the 50th over 5 balls 2 soon. Ashvin hit the ball to a 4 in the 49th over and he looked to take score past 270 but our Munnabhai couldnt stick around yet again. This lad was insipid in the field and when he bowled. He looks so disinterested and he sleepwalks the game. Why is he even in the team ?

Sachin Tendulkar walked when he was not out given by Steve Davis. He should not have walked and should not walk in the knock out games ahead esp against Australia. He didnt nick it and there is no snickometer for the DRS. So even if there was a review, he would have got away. But then the man has played his cricket with integrity, so he wont compromise against it. 

Gambhir again threw away the start he got. Kohli and Yuvraj then took the score to 173 when it looked India would cross again the 300 mark, but it was a distant dream. They collapsed yet again losing 7 for 50. Rampaul took 5 as did Bresnan and Steyn previously. 

This kind of performance wont be good enough to win the world cup. So India has to address the batting powerplay and middle order batting below 4 once again. That just cant do in the quarters especially when the next 2 games are against Australia and Pakistan(if both win).

Australia's world cup unbeaten run ends

Ricky Ponting must decide when to quit playing ODIs. When he failed the Ashes, it was believed the motivation to win the 4th title in row would get him some runs, but he has scratched around like a dog with just 102 runs in 6 games in the world cup so far. 

Today he was insipid with the bat, with the ideas and major force responsible for the loss after 12 years in the world cup. 

He just didnt bring on his best bowler of the day Bret Lee when 2 quick wickets fell and they still needed 34 runs to win. Instead he continued with Krejza and thus lost the game. Thoo.

He hasnt decided to quit, he still wants to play on. He insists the runs would come on and may be the quarters would be the one match where he'd get those runs. 

Australia losing a game after 12 years to Pakistan and ending up 3rd in the group is just not done. They have been slow starters, they have been insipid with the bat and ball both. They just dont show up their side of champions they have been for last 12 years. 

And no wonder they folded out for 176 in an idiotic RPS wikat, yet they could have made a match out of it given their opposition was PAKISTAN -- side always susceptible to a collapse any point of time.

Pakistan continued to be a mystery and dont know if this is going to get them the world cup. Afridi continues to behave like a kid when he has bat in his hand and Umar Akamal continues to fool the world with his talent. I wonder what makes him fake those injuries?

And the biggest negative factor of the game was their keeper Kakkumal didnt drop a catch!!!!!!!!!!

Aus vs Zim Review

Now you know one thing what not to keep around Ricky Ponting when he returns to he pavillion after being dismissed at a score he doesnt expect he would make.  Dont keep any alive persons around, dont keep electronic equipments around, may be some soft toys would do.  Smashing a LCD tv in the dressing room is very kiddish thing to do, something which under 10 age kids do when they dont get the things their way.  This just goes onto show how much damn frustrated Ricky Ponting is on the turnaround of events.

Yet he continued his unbeaten runs as captain in the world cup, Australia stretched their unbeaten streak to 30 games without being undefeated and 25 to last loss.

Yet the stature of World Cup champions or the stamp was missing. Victory by 91 runs and Zimbabwe stretching till 46 odd overs is pathetic for a bowling unit tht boasts of fearsome trio of Johnson, Tait and Lee.

The spinners of Zimbabwe much of whom are unheralded and by no means threatening were able to strangle Australians for the start of their innings. The opening pair of Australia got a start of 32 in 13 overs against dibbly and dobbly pacers of Zimbabwe. Much in the contrast with what Hayden and Gilchrist used to get in their pomp.  Haddin did not get a start, he looked scratchy. Ponting got starts in the warmups but did not get one in the real contest. And probably thats what led him to damage the LCD in the dressing room. Or was he an agent of Congress party to do a damage in Modi ruled GCA ground?

Clarke got a 50, but the other batsmen except Watto just scratched around like dogs do.

Zimbabwe by the way showed no intent to chase the target of 263 at any point of their chase. Yet they raced on till 170. If they could have taken the powerplay before 45 overs, that could have given a scare to the Aussies and more frustrations from Ponting and perhaps more damage from the ground. May be Ponting should be kept away from any room which has costly equipments in it.  The Zimbabweans did not opt for 3rd power play, only that they reached 45th over and they had to be provided batting power play, they had to take it.

If Aussies dont get their tasks cut out and improve hereon, they are sure to end up well before the finals stage and then you can imagine more damage and frustrations from Ricky Ponting.

Such games in addition to the Can vs SL and NZ vs Kenya are disgrace to the world cup which is the largest and grandest showcase for 50 over games. It should be sans of any blemishes and easy victories. And for that the ICC should kick out the minnows who do not benefit by playing bigger teams in 1, 2, ,3 ,4 world cups. Have 1 or 2 associate teams which compete hard and are capable to scare any top ranked team. May be Netherlands and Ireland fit that bill. Certainly Kenyans and Canadians dont fit that.

That thing called Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag, the bloody Indian opening batsman.  Bloody buffoon. Kickass opener. What else should I say about this Delhi Jat. No brains, just brutal power. No messing up. Simple style of play. Bad ball, he would hit it. Doesnt matter who the hell is the bowler. Shakib or Rubell or Bow Wow, Randibaaj Suraj or even the Chuck himself. Ask any bowler around the world. Better ask Pakistanis. Lankans call him Shewag.

He has demolished them too. The merchants of pace, swing and reverse swing. Of course spot fixed no balls too. He deposited even Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in stands on that glorious Centurion evening 8 years and 2 world cups back. 

Ask Sangakara who is so scared of this idiot Indian batsmen that he asks Randibaaj Suraj to bowl no balls. He might seem poor man's Amir or Asif which occured well before spot fixing saga. If he did not score a 100 on that game day, he yet demonized Sangakara and other Lankans. They swear in private they wont take on Indian ODI or test team which has Sehwag in it. 

Either he would make a 294 in a Test against them or he would make a 146 in a ODI. No respite. No swearing has its effect. The man lives by his own rules, his own standards. Now the bufoon is saying he would bat 50 overs. Like I said before what would happen if he bats 50 overs, the Deshis had a bitter taste of it yesterday in Mirpur.

There are so many wannabe Sehwags around. There is Dilshan in Lanka who emulates Sehwag but runs out of steam around 50-80 mark. Then there is Tamim Iqbal who steps more often than not yet fails to emulate the man. Then there is Shane Watson who is doing a Sehwag for Prick Tonping. 

There can be many emulators, but there is one and only Sehwag. Rattle him with short stuff, he wont play pull. Bowl him in his ribs, he would counter it. Sledge him he would deposit you into stands or even throw you out of the stadium, be it Mirpur or Hamba ka tota or his own backyard of Kotla. Rajkot too.

Dilip Vengsarkar is now proved an idiot and to an extent MSD too, who had dropped this idiot from the CB series finals in favor of Sir Rohit Sharma.  When Sehwag bats the way he does most of the times, the opposition reduces to the local club side. There are many who try to be "shahahne" like Ponting or Sangakara, but they are soon proved assholes by the man who knows no stopping when in full flow. That is Virender Sehwag for you. Unique and unparalleled.

Team Preview : Australia

Team preview series marches on and today its turn of the defending champions and the numero uno team in the ODIs currently Australia.

Australia have been the team to beat in the previous 3 world cups. They have dominated ruthlessly in the previous 3 editions so much so that they are yet to lose a world cup game in 12 years. Ever since Shoaib Akhtar rocked Steven Waugh's stumps in England, 1999 Australia have not been able to lose any game. They came close to losing a few but every time they found somebody or the other as a matchwinner and sailed through. Steve Waugh in the Super 6 vs SA, Shane Warne in the semi-final vs SA in 1999, Andrew Symonds vs Pakistan, Michael Bevan and Andy Bichel (bat and ball) vs England and Bret Lee vs NZ in 2003.

Ricky Ponting has won both world cups as captain in 2003 and 2007, thanks to the players he had at relm like McGrath, Lee, Gilchrist, Hayden, Bevan (2003), Hussey (2007) etc. None of them are around this time (most of them have retired and Hussey is injured), so the aura has certainly diminished in past few years. Ponting himself has been a shadow of past with just 3 hundreds in 3 years in this format.

Run up to the world cup

Australian aura began to diminish late 2008 when they lost home and away to South Africa. Even before they had lost to India in the last edition of CB series early 2008.  They continued losing their great players -- Gilly in 2008 and Hayden, the last of them in 2009. Bret Lee was injured most of the times. Mitch Johnson is erractic. The notable series wins Australia had in this duration was 4-2 against India in 2009 with a depleted team, 6-1 against England home and away(every time they lost the Ashes), 5-0 against Pakistan and West Indies. And of course NZ.

The losses that came to them were 0-1 to India in 2010 that kickstarted the defeats amounting to 7 in the 3 formats and a loss to Sri Lanka in homeyard. Phew how can Sri Lanka win in Australia vs Australia. Now you imagine the decline.  They also lost 2-3 in England but recovered in the time to beat England 6-1 in the home series.

The team

Opening Pair : Brad Haddin, Shane Watson

Middle Order : Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, David Hussey, Cameron White, Callum Fergusson, Tim Paine (reserve keeper and opening bat)

Bowlers: Shaun Tait, Bret Lee, Mitch Johnson, John Hastings, Steven Smith, Doug Bollinger and Jayson Krejza

Likely XI

Haddin, Watson, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, White, Smith, Johnson, Lee, Krejza, Bollinger / Tait

Strength

The biggest strength of the australia is the pace attack, which could also turn to the biggest weakness. Given the fact that Lee and Tait are super express bowlers who can wreck any batting line up on any pitch any conditions (including Lankan too), they are very much prone to injuries. So Ponting would have a job at hand to carefully handle the 2 super pacers.

Besides Johnson and Bollinger are good bets too.  Bollinger has had good success in Indian pitches in the IPL-3 and almost every one in the team has a fair experience of Indian conditions.

Weakness:

Batting form continues to worry the team fans. Ponting coming from a injury break and his form before the finger injury does not inspire much confidence. Clarke has been in a long rut and now his reputation of best Australian player of spin has been shredded. The batting is prone to collapses and is a bit weak against spin  that was exposed yesterday in the warmup game vs India in Bangalore by Chawla and Harbhajan.

Expectations:

4 years back, they would have been by default world champions, but now the things have changed.  Given the form and the run up to the world cup a title win would be a miraculous achievement, but a semi-final finish would be a worthy one. Anything less than that means Australia's aura has been finished for good.

Match Days

2/21 vs Zim at Motera

2/25 vs NZ at Nagpur

3/5 vs SL at RP, Colombo

3/13 vs Kenya at Bangalore

3/16 vs Canada at Bangalore

3/19 vs Pakistan at RP,Colombo

Expected to win against Zim, NZ, SL, Ken, Can and a tough one against Pakistan :)

Reflecting back!!!

4 years back in the runup to the world cup 2007 I had started writing cricket blog and most of those posts were related to the cricket watching experience from 1986 till date (2007). I had covered the world cup till the halfway stage and then India had exited in the first round itself. The days to follow were like being in the state of numbness and shock as none of us expected to lose so early. 

Greg Chappell was the most hated man in the country then and entire cricketing fraternity was shocked on Mar 18, 2007 when world learnt that Bob Woolmer died the night Pakistan lost to Ireland. Perhaps that was the start of decline of the Pakistan cricket which is still ongoing till today.

There was still a hope that India could still qualify to go to the super 6 by virtue of beating Lankans but it did not happen and I hated Dilhara Fernando more than I hate Jaywardhene and Sangakara now for dismissing Tendulkar on 0. Many thought that was the end of the Tendulkar saga in the World Cup.

And then one day writing from Kanbay office for that blog,I accidentally ended up deleting that blog which was more of a innocent blog with no digs at anyone, no hatred, no rants and no criticisicm of anybody. I rued that loss as i had already posted 45 posts by then. 

I got started with the other blog and the most memorable experience of blogging came with that when I blogged about the 2007 World T20 win, England series win and of course the victory over Pakistan in the last series played till date.

And then 2008 Sydney happened. It was heartbreaking, it was disgusting to see India lose to Ricky Ponting's antics. I was so anguished by teh happenings that I quit blogging and did not blog for another 8 months. Even IPL-1 came and gone, I did not blog. 

And then at the end of SL ODI series, I came back to the world of cricket blog yet again and this blog took the birth. 28 months of blogging and over 1200 posts. Drilling down Lankans, standing by the fab five of the Indian cricket and of course shredding apart the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Sangakara, Jayawardhena, M Vijay and Srikanth have been the features of this blog. 

I dont receive comments any more. I fretted initially about it, I cribbed and wrote about it, but in the end I adjusted to it not letting it affect me and my writing. I might not be the most popular blogger around, neither do I have penchant for laws of the game, neither do I have the ability to draw humorous cartoons, neither do I have ability to praise anything Sri Lankan. But passion for the game and standing by the team I like the best keep me going and I shall keep going for as long as I can. 

Awful Australia

Australia have lost the Ashes 1-3 after 24 years in their backyard and this is the most shameful defeat they have suffered in years. They used to lose to India before but not after giving a fight or a tussle. This Australian team had no bones for fights, they didnt anchor and they just crumbled in every aspect. They could not bat for long partnerships, could not take early wickets or break long partnerships, their batting collapsed in heap in almost every Test.

The openers, middle order, lower order of batting just did not have any courage to dig anchor and just hang in there. The bowlers bowled a lot of lose balls, they were not consistent throughout. If they had England on mat for first 3 days of the series, they thereafter allowed an easy route to success by folding out for 98 in the must win test in MCG.

Hughes tried to be Sehwag but could not even score a 50 in 3 tests he got to play in. Watson continued to make 50s which were of no use to anyone. Ponting was horrible in batting, Clarke was useless and Hussey, Haddin were only shining spots of the bleak summer. Even they folde out after holding the fort for the first 3 tests.  If one test Johnson was a world beater he was hit mercilessly in 2nd. Bollinger never threatened, spinners were least talked the better. Hauritz was discarded for Beer and Doherty, who not only floundered but also failed to take wickets.

All in all a very disappointing summer for Australia. The only chance of redemption in the future is the world cup in India. If they are able to win it, the chances of which appear very less, they would do a huge boost to themselves.

Else the future is bleak for immediate times. Their next Test assignment is against marathon batters Sri Lanka in August in SL. Till then if they find the personnel and right attitude to win it would be good for them, else the horrible 80s are due to return for them.

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.

India vs Australia D1T1

India Australia test happen at a very wrong time for me. When its day time in India, its night time here and barring weekends, its very difficult to catch up the live action on the field by being up the whole night.

India caught up with the Australia in the 2nd session to choke Australia at a scoreline of 5/224 which did not look a possibility at 2/179.  Ojha and Harbhajan did the best -- choke runs without taking wickets and that helped Zaheer Khan to strike with the old ball.

Thats where the utility of Zaheer Khan is. He is a superb exponent with the old ball and he should fancy 5-for tomorrow.

Watson and Ponting threatened to run away with the match in the first 2 sessions and onyl a gem from Raina saved India from usual day one starting troubles.

5/224 is an unusual scoreline for Australia..Perhaps an indicatot of the decline in Australian fortunes off late.

Getting Wastson and Paine early would be the key tomorrow.

300-325 should be the score India looking forward to wrap up Australia in 1st innings.

Aussies boost their chances to win

Pakistan lived up to its reputation as Collapso kings and this brought back the Aussies in the game. At the end of Day 2, the Aussies are 34 runs behind and 8 wkts in hand. Ricky Ponting and Michael Clark are at the crease with Hussey, Paine and North to follow.  Just 250 more runs in addition to the 34 to wipe out deficit would be good enough for Australia to win handsomely. Anything more than 250 would be added bonus.

Pakistan have forgot to bat in a Test match. Every time they put on whites, they have a sepia tinted memory which brings forward the so called best T20 skills in them and they try to whack everything out of the park. Before they realize that they are not in a T20 game, all is over for them.

Shane Watson before this series never had a 5-for to his name, now he has 2 in 2. A 5-for and a  6-for. Marcus North too has one.  Anil Kumble, Shane Warne would have had all 10 out of 10 2 times in the test match to this lineup.

Why blame Afridi for that mindless slog last Test, even Umars, Kamrans and Maliks have been guilty of doing this. Rightly so, Shahid Afridi has invited them to go leave the game if they don’t have the aptitude for it. Right said, this lads should stop playing Test cricket and bringing mockery to their already depleted pitiable plight.

From 5/215 to 9/234 and 258 all out, thanks they had 170 run lead so they are in the game right now. Else the other day this would have been the end of the game for them.  Australia are one team with self belief even if they are not on the top of the rankings table and even if their greats have left the game. They just don’t give up. Something the Indians should learn from them. 

India and Australia would be playing a 2 Test rubber later this year and that should be an exciting prospect. But before that this torturous series against Lanka should end. Even if we did not have played them and not gave chance to Murali to go for 800, we would have remained # 1 in the rankings, but for BCCI we coped up with this unwanted loss.

Aussie test woes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

India starts the trend, the rest emulates.

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

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

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

Bash India

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

In short "Gangotri" of all evils.

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

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

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

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

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

Any Indian who cries foul on UDRS ?

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

And yet anything Indian is filth.

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

Ruthlessness and Killer instinct

Ian Chappell says that Sachin Tendulkar had little less killer instincts than Brian Lara and that the later was more ruthless in terms of matchwinning ability.

The reality is that Sachin Tendulkar has won his country more matches than what Lara has for his team. Be it ODIs and Tests, the GOD of cricket has more centuries in victories than in the defeats. Only if the stats could prove a point to the atheists, the debate over the worthiness of Tendulkar had been rested long back.

Ponting has supposedly more matches than any of the other 2 greats. But then didnt he have so many other greats in conjunction with him like Steve and Mark Waugh, Hayden, Gilchrist, Langer in batting plus Warne, McGrath and Gillespie in bowling. Contrast that with the Laras and Tendulkars.

Only time Sachin had a settled team to his credit was in this decade when the Fab Five were in their prime and the result was evident in the change in the victory patterns abroad in Tests. The duration of 2002 - till date has been the best for India in terms of victories abroad in Tests. We now have won Tests in almost every country we have toured in. Something which was unimaginable in and till 90s. 90s had Azhar, Manjrekar and Siddhu for assistance to Sachin in first half and then Saurav, Rahul in second half, but then they were in early stages of their career.

Critics point out Chennai 1999 or a Hyderabad 2009 for the so called inability of Sachin to win a game for country, but then they conviniently forget the 2003 World Cup when he got India to the finals and then in 1996 when he got India to the semi finals only to bow out due to a default and a bad decision by match referee. They conviniently forget the 192 he made in Headingley 2002 or the 155 in Chennai vs Australia that first established his supremacy over Shane Warne and that went on till 2007.

We have this discussion on abilities of Sach to win the matches ignoring many facts. We dont consider the team support the guys had -- the greatest guys of this generation -- Lara,Ponting and Tendulkar. Sachin did not score 300s or long 200s as Lara did, but then he was and is consistent in scoring hundreds that have often changed the course of the series. His epic 155* in 4 hours in Chennai established supremacy over Shane Warne and for long time to come kept Aussies at bay from winning a Test series in India.
241 in Sydney or those twin hundreds in last year Series against Australia changed the course of the series. 241 got them close to win the series only to be Bucknor'ed in the end. 116 in Trinidad 2002 got India first victory in WI for 32 years and 4 years later India won their first series in WI in 35 years. His 90s made a huge difference in England 2007 which India won first time in 21 years in England. His 194 in Multan and partnership with Viru got India first taste of victory in the rogue land in 52 years of Test history with them. His 35th century in 2005 got India an upper hand on SL and that helped India shoo away the batting failure of 1st test in Chennai which was rain affected.

His distribution of hundreds is even. He has had hundreds against the best of his generation. He hasnt allowed any bowler except the debutants to get better of him. And the debutants later have got a good lesson from the man. Monty Panesar, Mendis, the Zim spinner (name not recalled) are prime examples how they were given a lesson or two.

The upcoming Test series against the SL would be another example of the domination he would look forth against Mendis who made him score his lowest total in a 3 Test series in his 20 years of Test cricket. The Ahmedabad test would also be his 160th one which would make him 2nd highest Test player in the world.

On a concluding note I'd say that the criticism of Tendulkar is unfair on killer instinct and ruthlessness. May be he has it in aplenty and his team mates dont. For that matter, the young guns, the IPL kids dont have it too.

Stop blaming anything Indian for injuries

If Australia is unable to find 11 men standing to take the field standing in 3rd ODI then call off the ODI and give the victory to India.

Dont crib and dont blame CT. CA is one of the founding partner and it was considered in the scheduling of the champions league.

Its a players' decision to play in a tournament or not. He knows his body best. He knows his injuries and the rehabilitation.

So do not blame the Champions League or IPL or any thing Indian.

All set for ODI 1.

All set for the first ODI in 4 and half hours.

Bat first and score big. Get Ponting and Watson early. The match is all ours then.

Playing against each other

So England did win their battle against the Aussies by 9 wkts.

Wait. They did not. They lost.

Ponting and Watson scored hundreds to end the English fairy tale.  So Aussies will now defend their title successfully.

Bad omens as now they would be confident coming to the Indian land and my predictions would now drop from 5-2 India to 4-3 India.

And then Ausssies take on weak teams of WI and then Pakistan in the home series and India then take on Sri Lanka. Lol.

Tough task for them to win even a single Test all this years in the country.  How many ? 27 years. 6 tours and no win. 6 Test tours.

3 tests and 5 ODIs and then India take on the Africans. Till then its no exciting series scheduled.

Australia have not lost to Pakistan in a Test match in 15 years. Can you believe ? Even with 2 Ws, the genuine fast bowlers Pakistan couldnt win a single Test against them after 1994, so now imagine if they could win with the help of an Aamer, Gul and Asif. 

3-0 losses in 2002 and 2005 series. Not to forget 1999.

Can Pakistanis break the jinx down under ? Well, only 2 teams have played well down under in the last 15 years. Its India in 2004 and 2007 and then South Africa in 2008-09.

Amongst 5 or 6 good test teams - -Australia, India, SA, Pak, England hardly any team has had a horrible mismatch like this.

Sri Lanka are yet to beat Australia in Australia, India in India and South Africa in South Africa in a single Test.  Germain. That, the f is your team. Lol.  Till then lets forget to bother them being a decent test side.

For now its Pakistan Vs New Zealand in the 2nd semi final .

The irony is that whenever in a ICC event after 1992 Pak have played NZ and won , they have lost to Australia in the final.

They beat NZ in 1992 thanks to their last great batsman  Inzy, and won against England in the final.  England there after could never reach the final, let go of a super 6 or 8 untill 2007.

Lot of stats.  Pak would be back to their extremes tomorrow and the luck is now to be in their favor, so they would play good.  Bad (WI), Good (Ind), Bad (Aus) and now good (NZ) and then bad (Aus).

I open the forum for the brickbats, some new commentors from Sri Lanka and most prolly  ............

Age is just a number

Old timers are enjoying the week right now across the globe. Jaya and Tendulkar along with Dravid in subcontinent. Ponting in England.

Who said cricket is for youth ?

Perform and keep persisting.

Age doesnt matter. Its just a number. Much for hysteria of the buffoons who know nothing on the game and for whom sustaining the limelight is the only purpose.

How does it matter if you are 25 and keep scoring 20s and 30s remain in the team but a batsman who has had just 5 bad ODIs is dropped for 2 long years. And the man who scores 10700 ODI runs, only 3rd or 4th man in the history to have 10k runs in both formats goes out just cos he is 34. Was 34.

A 40 year old man scores a 98 in the game against India and the 32 year old scores just 1 and 17 and 31 year old hits himself out. And 37 year old takes 5-for in almost every 2nd or 3rd inning and a 26 year old fails after the initial hyesteria.

The top 4 wicket takers are the ones who blossomed in the later years of their careers. The drug abused blonde star who took 40 wickets in losing cause took close to 400 wkts in 2nd part of his career. A jaw broken bowler took 350 wkts in his last 5 years of career when people had written him off.

A 36 year old batsman has scored 9 international hundreds since May 2007 and 7 90s. Out of which many were wrong decisions.

Age is just a number. Fold the number and flush it in the commode of your loo.