Srilanka made it to the finals with easy victory over pakistan and bangladesh, in all probability it should be Srilanka vs India Finals on Sunday.
On his 39th birthday Jayasurya made yet another hundred of just 55 balls and brought back memories of his hey days. Sangakarra scored his second hundred in as many days and its amazing that he also kept wickets after his hundred. Murali and the googly specialist Mendis bowled out bangladesh for a big victory.
Jayawardane's post match interview was so matured that Dhoni can learn a few things, afterall he is in his early stages of captaincy. He mentioned that the host teams always enjoy few things like schedule,crowd support etc and on a lighter side also said that he will make sure Pakistan plays back-to-back matches when Srilanka hosts the Asia Cup :-)
India for so long was dependent on spin bowling and even today if India has to win a Test it needs its spinner in Kumble to perform well. After the prolification of fast bowling in India, we have lost our own strength the spin bowling. We have not been able to produce world class spinners consistently, it has been too long since we had great spinners in Bedi,Chandra,Prassana and Venkatraghavan. After kumble its going to be tough task for India, as i dont see good spinners in the bench, Chawla seems to be good and needs constant encouragement to keep him going, i feel he should not be exposed to the ODI/T20 games. He is a traditional spinner with flight and loop and invite lot of hard hitting in the shorter version of the game but should do well in Test Cricket. I think its time the board and cricket management starts thinking of finding good young spinners for the future.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
NewZeland & Australia win ODI series
NewZeland and Australia won the ODI series against England and West Indies respectively. The series win for NewZeland must be very satisfying after losing the Test series and other controversy in the ODI matches. For the Aussies it was just another series win for the record books after the test victory.
I think i was little harsh on Collingwood and England in my previous post Spirit of the Game .... Dead ???
After looking into other reports and post match report (repeatedly shown in ESPN) pointing that NewZeland players were equally unsportive in not coming to the customary handshake after the match even after collingwood waiting in front of the NZ dressing room for more than 5-10 minutes. The NZ players action only confirms my scary thought of Sprint of the game being killed by the new generation players.
AsiaCup-2008
It has been in the expected lines so for in the AsiaCup-2008, thanks to the curators for providing such flat /dead tracks that all the games are high scoring games. It has been great batting display from Sehwag,Gambhir,Raina,Mallik,YounisKhan,Sangakarra,Kapali over the past few days. Srilanka with the win against pakistan is sitting comfortably in the super four and its pressure for pakistan to win all the games in the remaining matches of the tournament.
We all understand that its tough on the players in this time of the year in pakistan and the schedule has been very tight for few teams. The schedule is arrived well in advance and the boards are aware of this and the players know what is expected from them, there is no point in cribbing on the schedule for poor performance on the field. Indian bowling and fielding has been pretty ordinary for the past few months and Dhoni blaming the schedule for the stick they got against Bangladesh is not welcome. These are the same guys who were fit for the IPL in the peak of the summer and played back-back semi-finals and finals. I think the pressure of captaincy is slowly catching on with Dhoni, his reply to the lose in the kitply cup and this response here is not going to do any good for him. After all its early days for him, one can imagine how difficult it would have been to former captains who have been in the helm for so long like Azharuddin and Gangully, hope Dhoni learns quickly from these great captains to cope with captaincy pressure.
Spain Wins European Cup After 1964
It was planning and execution by the less fancied Spain with the solitary goal from Torres. Germany with all the big names could not net the ball even once to make a match of it. Spain in all probability looked the best team in the tournament and its great to see them win the cup.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Raina Grabs No 3 slot in Style
Team India batsmen in Raina and Sehwag made up for some ordinary bowling and fielding performance. Dhoni must be worried man even after a comfortable win chasing 300, his bowlers are giving away 6+ runs consistently and the fielding is not that great. Gary Kirsten should be thinking of including an extra bowler with the teams top order batsmen in good form. I would think that Gony should replace R.Sharma as the fifth regular bowler, i dont think sharma can add value at no 6 / 7.
Raina played one of his best innings in international carrier, he was so confident and getting runs at will sehwag had to play the waiting role in providing much of the strike to Raina. With UmarGul walking out of the field with hip strain, the Pakistan bowling looked pretty ordinary, SohailTanvir was not in his element to carry the extra responsibility in Gul's absence. Full credit to Raina and Sehwag in getting more than the required run rate with some good cricketing shorts and it was not just slam bang hitting. Sehwag picked up steam once he reached his fifty and went on to hit 5 sixes to get to his 9th ODI hundred after 3 years. Wish and hope Raina is retained at No 3 and most importantly performs to his potential. Earlier on it was Shoaib Malik's turn to belt the hapless indian bowling to reach his 2nd successive hundred in the AsiaCup with some good partnerships with Salman Butt and Younis Khan. As expected all the four test playing nations are in the Super Four league phase.
Srinath delivers four match ban for Collingwood for slow over rate, this is the first time i have heard that a English captain being banned. Kevin Peterson will lead the team in the decisive fifth ODI against the New Zeland, i wish rain does not spoil the great game. Australia takes on the West Indies in the 2nd ODI of the series and feel its advantage Aussies.
Euro-2008 :- Its Germany vs Spain in the finals on 29th and going by past records Germany starts favorites.
Raina played one of his best innings in international carrier, he was so confident and getting runs at will sehwag had to play the waiting role in providing much of the strike to Raina. With UmarGul walking out of the field with hip strain, the Pakistan bowling looked pretty ordinary, SohailTanvir was not in his element to carry the extra responsibility in Gul's absence. Full credit to Raina and Sehwag in getting more than the required run rate with some good cricketing shorts and it was not just slam bang hitting. Sehwag picked up steam once he reached his fifty and went on to hit 5 sixes to get to his 9th ODI hundred after 3 years. Wish and hope Raina is retained at No 3 and most importantly performs to his potential. Earlier on it was Shoaib Malik's turn to belt the hapless indian bowling to reach his 2nd successive hundred in the AsiaCup with some good partnerships with Salman Butt and Younis Khan. As expected all the four test playing nations are in the Super Four league phase.
Srinath delivers four match ban for Collingwood for slow over rate, this is the first time i have heard that a English captain being banned. Kevin Peterson will lead the team in the decisive fifth ODI against the New Zeland, i wish rain does not spoil the great game. Australia takes on the West Indies in the 2nd ODI of the series and feel its advantage Aussies.
Euro-2008 :- Its Germany vs Spain in the finals on 29th and going by past records Germany starts favorites.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Spirit of the Game .... Dead ???
There were days when the rival captains would respect each other and have gone to the extent of re-calling the batsmen after a wrong decision. I can recall the G.R.Vishwanath episode of recalling the England batsmen in the centenary test match and the batsmen scored a hundred, how can one forget Walsh gesture in stopping at the bowling crease with an opportunity to run out the batsmen but decided against in the spirit of the game. Its shame on England and Collingwood to have gone with the appeal against the batsmen when the players got collided. England is suppose to be the custodian of the game and the place where the game is said to have taken its roots has to resort to such unsportive methods to win matches.
NewZeland won the 4th ODI and setup a decisive 5th ODI in Lords for England to level the series. Vettori must be a very happy man to see his team win games in this disappointing tour, its one game away for them to win the series. NewZeland once again was successful in restricting the England to 240+ and won the match in the last ball on a overthrow. NZ had to score just 3 runs in the last over but dragged to score 2 of the last ball, an overthrow ensured that NZ won the match and lead the series 2-1.
AsiaCup Day-2 was again as expected with India and Srilanka winning by a huge margin. Not sure why Dhoni had to come in early in this game, i feel they have lost a good opportunity to provide a chance to Yousuf Pathan to bat freely in the early overs and get ready for the tough games. Dhoni at 4 or 5 is not going to help the team batting order he should be batting at 6 which will add lot of options in the end overs. R.Sharma needs get some runs today and make sure he is in the playing XI, i hope the message would have already gone to him that his place is not guaranteed.
Euro-2008 :- Mighty Germans makes it to the finals with score of 3-2 win over the fighting Turkey. It was the extra injury time goal which sealed the match for the Germans.
NewZeland won the 4th ODI and setup a decisive 5th ODI in Lords for England to level the series. Vettori must be a very happy man to see his team win games in this disappointing tour, its one game away for them to win the series. NewZeland once again was successful in restricting the England to 240+ and won the match in the last ball on a overthrow. NZ had to score just 3 runs in the last over but dragged to score 2 of the last ball, an overthrow ensured that NZ won the match and lead the series 2-1.
AsiaCup Day-2 was again as expected with India and Srilanka winning by a huge margin. Not sure why Dhoni had to come in early in this game, i feel they have lost a good opportunity to provide a chance to Yousuf Pathan to bat freely in the early overs and get ready for the tough games. Dhoni at 4 or 5 is not going to help the team batting order he should be batting at 6 which will add lot of options in the end overs. R.Sharma needs get some runs today and make sure he is in the playing XI, i hope the message would have already gone to him that his place is not guaranteed.
Euro-2008 :- Mighty Germans makes it to the finals with score of 3-2 win over the fighting Turkey. It was the extra injury time goal which sealed the match for the Germans.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Celebrating 25 years of WorldCup Victory !!!!!
It was great to see the sports pages of Newspapers, headlines in TV News channels and home page of most sports web-sites carrying the 25 years of WorldCup Victory celebrations cowered. The victorious team is traveling to London to auction the golden bat with autographs from the winning team members and the proceeds will be distributed among them. I am sure it will help few of the cricketers who have not been economically doing that well after their playing days.
BCCI needs to applauded for the work they have done before and after the victory, the board used the frenzy and innovated ways to popularize the game and win sponsorship deals. We are very fortunate to have such wonderful structured system in place, domestic tournaments,school level tournaments,world class stadiums, pension for former domestic and international players are all great things to have happened for game of cricket in India and the main reason for all this is the WorldCup victory. My Salute to the BCCI management over the years to have made this happen, i could point two former presidents who i feel had contributed immensely in this, 1) I.S Bindra was the first person to sell cricket and innovate ides to bring in money to the board, 2) Dalmiya, there has been lot of allegations against him but one can not dismiss the amount of good things he has done to the domestic cricket by selling international cricket, he implemented the pension scheme for the players, he made sure that the state associations get a share on the revenues generated by the board. Even now we hear that former hockey,basketball etc internationals live in poverty but i don't think that's the case with even the domestic players as for as cricket is concerned.
On the other side, 25 years have gone after we have won the WorldCup and still waiting... We have had few great cricketers in Azharuddin, Sachin, Dravid,Ganguly,Kumble,Srinath etc but we could not win the WorldCup for so long. The last worldcup debacle proved that team building is something which can not happen overnight with high profile coach's but need to happen over a period of time with good leaders who could bring the best out of the given players and stay level headed. BCCI has take more proactive steps like, getting the game to the village and rural areas rather than the city's to build great teams, the NCA is great start and we should be seeing results in few years from now.
As expected it was one sided games in the AsiaCup day 1. Australia beats West Indies by over 80+ runs in the 1st ODI with star performance from the IPL find Shaun Marsh scoring 84 in his first international match.
Euro-2008 :- First semi-finals between Germany and Turkey should be a great contest.
BCCI needs to applauded for the work they have done before and after the victory, the board used the frenzy and innovated ways to popularize the game and win sponsorship deals. We are very fortunate to have such wonderful structured system in place, domestic tournaments,school level tournaments,world class stadiums, pension for former domestic and international players are all great things to have happened for game of cricket in India and the main reason for all this is the WorldCup victory. My Salute to the BCCI management over the years to have made this happen, i could point two former presidents who i feel had contributed immensely in this, 1) I.S Bindra was the first person to sell cricket and innovate ides to bring in money to the board, 2) Dalmiya, there has been lot of allegations against him but one can not dismiss the amount of good things he has done to the domestic cricket by selling international cricket, he implemented the pension scheme for the players, he made sure that the state associations get a share on the revenues generated by the board. Even now we hear that former hockey,basketball etc internationals live in poverty but i don't think that's the case with even the domestic players as for as cricket is concerned.
On the other side, 25 years have gone after we have won the WorldCup and still waiting... We have had few great cricketers in Azharuddin, Sachin, Dravid,Ganguly,Kumble,Srinath etc but we could not win the WorldCup for so long. The last worldcup debacle proved that team building is something which can not happen overnight with high profile coach's but need to happen over a period of time with good leaders who could bring the best out of the given players and stay level headed. BCCI has take more proactive steps like, getting the game to the village and rural areas rather than the city's to build great teams, the NCA is great start and we should be seeing results in few years from now.
As expected it was one sided games in the AsiaCup day 1. Australia beats West Indies by over 80+ runs in the 1st ODI with star performance from the IPL find Shaun Marsh scoring 84 in his first international match.
Euro-2008 :- First semi-finals between Germany and Turkey should be a great contest.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
BCCI takes U-Turn
It seems that Lalith Modi and I.S.Bindra are more powerful than the BCCI president when it comes to dealing with the ICL. Please read the message from Pawar few days back on the ICL players taking part in the T20 Champions League and the subsequent U turn the BCCI has taken in this respect.
"July 19th Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, has said that all teams participating in the proposed Champions League have the freedom to include players of their choice for the US$5 million multi-club Twenty20 tournament, even it means including players with ties to the unauthorized Indian Cricket League (ICL). But he placed the onus on letting such teams go through on the countries they represent and warned that the BCCI would then have the freedom to take its decision on the issue."
BCCI has even gone to the extent of asking Pakistan to be prepared with their domestic side in case ECB withdraws from this league. Its sad that the ECB is in such a mess that they can't say no to the players and also don't want to face the wrath of the powerful BCCI. I feel that BCCI is using all its powers to make sure that ICL is just dumped, sad that the young cricketers part of the league has to face the uncertain future. We all know the domestic cricketers who joined the league are mostly economically backward and could not resist the lure of big money. Hope BCCI atleast lets the players who are young a chance by letting them get back to their respective domestic state teams for the good of the game.
India Cements regained the Hindu trophy in the local tournament in Chennai, It was again the old horses performing in both the sides to make a match of it. Sharath and Suresh performed to make sure there was no surprises and for Chemplast it was again Ajay Kuduwa (Veteran kerala ranji star) and D.Vasu to perform, Vidyuth who scored a hundred in the semi-finals failed in the finals. Sharath seems to have the luck (atleast in domestic cricket) in picking man of the match, in spite of an all round display by IC captain Suresh (3 wickets and 39 runs) Sharath's 70 fetched him the Man of the Match. Sad that none of the youngsters made an impact in the tournament.
Euro-2008 : Yet another fancied team Italy is out of the contest and completes the weekend of upsets to a perfect finish.
"July 19th Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, has said that all teams participating in the proposed Champions League have the freedom to include players of their choice for the US$5 million multi-club Twenty20 tournament, even it means including players with ties to the unauthorized Indian Cricket League (ICL). But he placed the onus on letting such teams go through on the countries they represent and warned that the BCCI would then have the freedom to take its decision on the issue."
BCCI has even gone to the extent of asking Pakistan to be prepared with their domestic side in case ECB withdraws from this league. Its sad that the ECB is in such a mess that they can't say no to the players and also don't want to face the wrath of the powerful BCCI. I feel that BCCI is using all its powers to make sure that ICL is just dumped, sad that the young cricketers part of the league has to face the uncertain future. We all know the domestic cricketers who joined the league are mostly economically backward and could not resist the lure of big money. Hope BCCI atleast lets the players who are young a chance by letting them get back to their respective domestic state teams for the good of the game.
India Cements regained the Hindu trophy in the local tournament in Chennai, It was again the old horses performing in both the sides to make a match of it. Sharath and Suresh performed to make sure there was no surprises and for Chemplast it was again Ajay Kuduwa (Veteran kerala ranji star) and D.Vasu to perform, Vidyuth who scored a hundred in the semi-finals failed in the finals. Sharath seems to have the luck (atleast in domestic cricket) in picking man of the match, in spite of an all round display by IC captain Suresh (3 wickets and 39 runs) Sharath's 70 fetched him the Man of the Match. Sad that none of the youngsters made an impact in the tournament.
Euro-2008 : Yet another fancied team Italy is out of the contest and completes the weekend of upsets to a perfect finish.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Weekend of Upsets
It has been a stunning weekend of upsets in the world of sports. New Zeland beats England in the 3rd ODI after losing the Tests and T20 games, West Indies beat Australia in the T20 game after losing the Test series, Turkey upset Croatia in a tie-breaker and Russia beats Netherlands to get into the euro-2008 semi-finals.
NewZeland did well to defend a very small total of 182 with some disciplined bowling and good fielding. From 42-4 NZ Elliott and Mills batted well to make sure they have a fighting total, the wicket was seaming and helping the fast bowlers. England batted poorly to lose wickets at regular intervals, other than Collingwood and Swann none of the others showed any intention to stay and reach the target, most of the wickets were poor short selection. Having said that one has to give credit to some good seam bowling from Southee to return figures of 4-38. NZ has finally won a match in this long England tour :-)
Australia some how is yet to get into winning T20 games, WI won a shortened game with some good batting from the young Marshall and all rounder Bravo. T20 specialists Shaun Marsh and Shane Watson did their best to get a reasonable score of 100+ in 11 overs but that was not enough for the hard hitting Marshall who hit 36 of 15 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes, Bravo finished the match with a big six. Lee and Johnson were hit for over 50 runs in the first 4 overs and there was no coming back for the Australians.
Euro-2008 :- Nothing much on the results, it was just stunning that the favorites just crumbling under pressure and not so fancied sides in Turkey and Russia showed lot character to fight under pressure and pulling out some great shorts to hit the net.
NewZeland did well to defend a very small total of 182 with some disciplined bowling and good fielding. From 42-4 NZ Elliott and Mills batted well to make sure they have a fighting total, the wicket was seaming and helping the fast bowlers. England batted poorly to lose wickets at regular intervals, other than Collingwood and Swann none of the others showed any intention to stay and reach the target, most of the wickets were poor short selection. Having said that one has to give credit to some good seam bowling from Southee to return figures of 4-38. NZ has finally won a match in this long England tour :-)
Australia some how is yet to get into winning T20 games, WI won a shortened game with some good batting from the young Marshall and all rounder Bravo. T20 specialists Shaun Marsh and Shane Watson did their best to get a reasonable score of 100+ in 11 overs but that was not enough for the hard hitting Marshall who hit 36 of 15 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes, Bravo finished the match with a big six. Lee and Johnson were hit for over 50 runs in the first 4 overs and there was no coming back for the Australians.
Euro-2008 :- Nothing much on the results, it was just stunning that the favorites just crumbling under pressure and not so fancied sides in Turkey and Russia showed lot character to fight under pressure and pulling out some great shorts to hit the net.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Pawar powers ICL revival
Sharad Pawar long time friend of Subash Chandra (Zee TV) owner of the ICL inflicts life into ICL. After the stupendous success of IPL, with the ban on cricketers playing the league and very low TRP rating for the league, it is almost done to the trash.
Pawar has given the ICL new lease of life by leaving the decision on the players involved in the league with the associated board and made it clear that ICC has got nothing against the players and they are eligible for the T20 Champions Trophy planned by the BCCI. Kapil must be a happy man now and should be taking the next logical step by fighting for selection of players from ICL for Team India. ECB is the major beneficiary of this move with many players playing in ICL are already playing in county cricket.
Yet another good game in the carrebian today, as its going to be T20 we can expect tight contest with big hitting WI take revenge for the test series lose. Australia with the new found success in IPL starts Shaun Marsh and Shane Watson should be fighting to gain supremacy in this format of the game.
Coming back to the local cricket politics, its sad that a former BCCI president should create problems to the smooth functioning of the TNCA. For the past 5-6 years the TNCA elections had no surprise and everything was dominated by the India Cements and had good understanding with other corporates like (MRF,Chemplast,TVS,India Piston's etc), now the old horse A.C.Muthiah raising issues on the way elections are conducted for the TNCA. Its sad that it has come out in the open and i am sure things will not be as smooth as it is now and one can expect few court cases and delay in executing the elections scheduled this month end. SPIC has not done anything good for cricket in the recent past, with its own teams in the lower division league from once 1st division champions. It will help local cricketers if he helps building a worthy team and bring back the glory days for their team.
Euro-2008 : Germany wins comfortably over Portugal with a 3-2 score line. Germany dominated through out the match with some great performance from Ballack,Podlosky and Klose backed up by the come back man Schweinsteiger starting with a stunning right foot goal and brilliant passing.
Pawar has given the ICL new lease of life by leaving the decision on the players involved in the league with the associated board and made it clear that ICC has got nothing against the players and they are eligible for the T20 Champions Trophy planned by the BCCI. Kapil must be a happy man now and should be taking the next logical step by fighting for selection of players from ICL for Team India. ECB is the major beneficiary of this move with many players playing in ICL are already playing in county cricket.
Yet another good game in the carrebian today, as its going to be T20 we can expect tight contest with big hitting WI take revenge for the test series lose. Australia with the new found success in IPL starts Shaun Marsh and Shane Watson should be fighting to gain supremacy in this format of the game.
Coming back to the local cricket politics, its sad that a former BCCI president should create problems to the smooth functioning of the TNCA. For the past 5-6 years the TNCA elections had no surprise and everything was dominated by the India Cements and had good understanding with other corporates like (MRF,Chemplast,TVS,India Piston's etc), now the old horse A.C.Muthiah raising issues on the way elections are conducted for the TNCA. Its sad that it has come out in the open and i am sure things will not be as smooth as it is now and one can expect few court cases and delay in executing the elections scheduled this month end. SPIC has not done anything good for cricket in the recent past, with its own teams in the lower division league from once 1st division champions. It will help local cricketers if he helps building a worthy team and bring back the glory days for their team.
Euro-2008 : Germany wins comfortably over Portugal with a 3-2 score line. Germany dominated through out the match with some great performance from Ballack,Podlosky and Klose backed up by the come back man Schweinsteiger starting with a stunning right foot goal and brilliant passing.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
30 Minutes Break !!!!
It was cruel to see a drawn game between England and the New-Zeland in the 2nd ODI because of bad whether and 30 minutes break in between the innings. NZ were chasing 162 of 24 overs and the revised target was 134 of 20 overs and the game stopped after 19 overs with NZ needing only 7 runs to win.
Why on earth the game needed a 30 minutes break when the players have already finished their lunch and the game was already shortened by rain and bad light. Umpires say that the rules does not allow a break lesser than 30 minutes, i just ridicule the rule and feel that the umpires should act according to match situations and apply some common sense as Vettori has mentioned. It was also some dirty tactics by Collingwood to slow the over rate to such a dismal 13 overs in the first hour and showed the umpires were not at all in control of the match. Sad that the patient 15000 + crowd had to wait so long and go back with such a result.
Somehow these Englishmen make news of even very ordinary things, if it gives their side some cheap publicity, i am referring to Peterson switch-hit short. So many players in the past have innovated shorts which brought them quick runs like reverse sweep,paddle sweep,hitting the ball behind the wicket-keeper etc etc but these English media and board did not care to probe but sensationalize the short played by Peterson, the media and the board got together to probe and come out with a clean chit on the short, even when NZ did not care to raise this as an issue as an opponent side. The English Cricket Media has surprised the world with such funny things in the past and continue to do the same in this information age too :-)
Euro-2008 - Its going to be a great night with rivals Ballack and Ronaldino fight in the quarterfinals (need to somehow make myself awake, as the match starts at midnight in this part of the world). Another great contest in the quarterfinals will be the match between Spain and Italy. I think it should be easy for Croatia and Netherlands facing Turkey and Russia respectively.
Why on earth the game needed a 30 minutes break when the players have already finished their lunch and the game was already shortened by rain and bad light. Umpires say that the rules does not allow a break lesser than 30 minutes, i just ridicule the rule and feel that the umpires should act according to match situations and apply some common sense as Vettori has mentioned. It was also some dirty tactics by Collingwood to slow the over rate to such a dismal 13 overs in the first hour and showed the umpires were not at all in control of the match. Sad that the patient 15000 + crowd had to wait so long and go back with such a result.
Somehow these Englishmen make news of even very ordinary things, if it gives their side some cheap publicity, i am referring to Peterson switch-hit short. So many players in the past have innovated shorts which brought them quick runs like reverse sweep,paddle sweep,hitting the ball behind the wicket-keeper etc etc but these English media and board did not care to probe but sensationalize the short played by Peterson, the media and the board got together to probe and come out with a clean chit on the short, even when NZ did not care to raise this as an issue as an opponent side. The English Cricket Media has surprised the world with such funny things in the past and continue to do the same in this information age too :-)
Euro-2008 - Its going to be a great night with rivals Ballack and Ronaldino fight in the quarterfinals (need to somehow make myself awake, as the match starts at midnight in this part of the world). Another great contest in the quarterfinals will be the match between Spain and Italy. I think it should be easy for Croatia and Netherlands facing Turkey and Russia respectively.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Umpires Credibility at Stake
With the new trail umpiring decision review system to take off from the Srilanka-India series, its going to be immense pressure on the on-field umpires and their credibility at stake. Its true that in a truly professional system there is no scope for any mistakes but if too-many decisions are against the on-field umpires then its going to be tough on them. Overall its a good and bold decision by the ICC to try this out and make sure that human error does not change the course of the match. If this trial is successful, there should not be any restriction on the number of claims (now it is restricted to 3) and i also feel the third umpire should not be used for the LBW decisions, it is just not possible for a electronic system to show the path of delivery, may me it can be used for the ball pitching out side the leg stump,off stump decisions but surely not for the path or to assess the height of the ball for the LBW, all that depends on the pitch. I am sure there will be lots of issues if they go ahead with the Hawk Eye for the LBW decisions.
It is also going to test the true leadership of the on fielding team captains as they are the ones who will make the call to request for review. There is going to be some team planning on who should make use of the option while the team is batting, over all its interesting times and lots of scope for discussions on decisions.
Australian bench strength has yet again proved that they are too good. Katich after two successive century is not sure of his place in the XI for their tour to India. Australia has time and again proved that they play the sport with lot of commitment and give their best in the big stage. As Ponting has nicely put it, they are not demolishing the opponents but grinding them to victory these days, as almost 6-7 players have left the international stage in the past 10-12 months. It will be good to see how they perform in the up coming series against India in India.Its good that BCCI and senior team management has come up with a camp for the Test only players like Lakshman, Dravid, Kumble etc ahead of the series against the Australians.
On the Euro-2008, Italy came good once again to beat France and moved ahead to the quarterfinals. France had to leave the tournament with the lose against Italy.
It is also going to test the true leadership of the on fielding team captains as they are the ones who will make the call to request for review. There is going to be some team planning on who should make use of the option while the team is batting, over all its interesting times and lots of scope for discussions on decisions.
Australian bench strength has yet again proved that they are too good. Katich after two successive century is not sure of his place in the XI for their tour to India. Australia has time and again proved that they play the sport with lot of commitment and give their best in the big stage. As Ponting has nicely put it, they are not demolishing the opponents but grinding them to victory these days, as almost 6-7 players have left the international stage in the past 10-12 months. It will be good to see how they perform in the up coming series against India in India.Its good that BCCI and senior team management has come up with a camp for the Test only players like Lakshman, Dravid, Kumble etc ahead of the series against the Australians.
On the Euro-2008, Italy came good once again to beat France and moved ahead to the quarterfinals. France had to leave the tournament with the lose against Italy.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Australia Wins Series 2-0
The final score card on the Australia vs West Indies series is 2-0 but i feel the tests were fought much better than the end statistics.
Aussies had to earn the final test victory after some scary movements in the middle with Chanderpaul and Bravo set to take control on the proceedings to finish the game in their favor. It was some controlled aggression from Lee and Clark which put pressure on the WI batsmen to get out defending. Casson returned figures of 3-86 where the pitch had fair amount of turn.
But for two bad days, the final day in 1st test and the 3rd day in the final test, WI did match the world champions in all the departments. If Chanderpaul had some support from the other batsmen consistently, i feel the results could have been other way around. For the Australians it was the surprise success of Katich with big hundreds helped them with good starts and some special innings from Symonds in the crunch stages of the match helped Australia. Australia did struggle with the bowling lacking the ability to dominate the batsmen, Lee and Clark bowled well in patches but could not match the dominance of McGrath and Warne.
Kudos to ICC on taking some proactive moves in taking umpiring mistakes seriously and initiating some steps. Extract from cricinfo.
Aussies had to earn the final test victory after some scary movements in the middle with Chanderpaul and Bravo set to take control on the proceedings to finish the game in their favor. It was some controlled aggression from Lee and Clark which put pressure on the WI batsmen to get out defending. Casson returned figures of 3-86 where the pitch had fair amount of turn.
But for two bad days, the final day in 1st test and the 3rd day in the final test, WI did match the world champions in all the departments. If Chanderpaul had some support from the other batsmen consistently, i feel the results could have been other way around. For the Australians it was the surprise success of Katich with big hundreds helped them with good starts and some special innings from Symonds in the crunch stages of the match helped Australia. Australia did struggle with the bowling lacking the ability to dominate the batsmen, Lee and Clark bowled well in patches but could not match the dominance of McGrath and Warne.
Kudos to ICC on taking some proactive moves in taking umpiring mistakes seriously and initiating some steps. Extract from cricinfo.
The ICC Board, had, in March, approved the trial of the review system during a Test series in the current cricket calendar. It will now have to approve its Cricket Committee's recommendations before the Sri Lanka- India series begins. The main elements are:
- Umpires should still be permitted to refer line decisions or boundaries to the third umpire as normal without a player requesting him to refer that decision"
- The players should be permitted to ask the on-field umpire to review any aspect of any other decision in consultation with the third umpire
- The process should take the form and order of: on-field umpire gives his decision; affected batsman or fielding side's captain asks the umpire to review that decision; the on-field umpire(s) and third umpire consult; the on-field umpire gives his final decision
- The committee recommended that Hawk-Eye technology could be used by the third umpire but only for the purposes of determining the actual path of the ball up until the point that it struck the batsman and not the predictor function of the technology
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Lack of Attitude costs Team India Kitply Cup
Congratulations to the Pakistani Team and Good Luck to Team India to pull their socks to perform better in the up coming Asia Cup. Pakistan batted brilliantly to score in excess of 300+ runs and backed up with some decent bowling and fielding. Toss seamed to be vital in the game, it was a reverse to the league game where India scored in excess of 300 runs and beat Pakistan comfortably and now it was Pakistan's turn to beat India in similar fashion but for some fight from Youraj and Dhoni to bring the game closer. The final score line may be closer but Indian batting was never in control chasing the big total.
It was poor bowling and bad fielding from the indian's that cost the finals, R.Sharma dropped a sitter and the way he reacted to that was not at all desirable. He was quick to defend himself giving some reason (lost in the crowd) for the lapse, any good cricketer will first feel bad or don't defend for putting down a catch. I am sure that our media is not doing any good to keep these new found hero's feat in ground.High time that these young cricketers realize that their place is not for granted. Ishant Sharma bowled well in patches but some how seems to have lost the trick to take wickets. Praveen Kumar bowled well but did not get any support from the other end to restrict the Pakistanis. I.Pathan suppose to be a bowling all rounder was feeding the batsmen with boundary's in each and every over and made things easy for the batsmen not to take any risks. Bhatt and Younis made sure that Chawla never settle down with controlled attack and he proved costly to finish gifting 85 runs in his 10 overs. Dhoni's in experience showed in rotating the bowlers, Yousuf Pathan was bowled only 2 overs when he bowled reasonably well. He also used too many bowlers (7) and never seemed to be in control. But for Youraj,Raina and Gambhir to an extent the fielding was not up to the mark with the classic example of praveen kumar who showed no intention of throwing himself to stop boundary's.
Indian batting order badly missed the services of experience batsmen who could come good in crunch situations. Sehwag disappointed once again when the team needs a good start. Gambhir showed glimpses of his class but not carrying it till the end, he has been doing well in the big stage in the recent past but failed today. R.Sharma,Raina,Y.Pathan all had the best opportunity to prove themselves and move to the higher league but failed to latch on to the chance that too after getting starts. Irfan the all rounder coming at the crunch stage of the match just could not raise to the occasion and also wasted some juicy full tosses and created lot of pressure on dhoni watching haplessly from the other end. Its time the selectors take some hard decisions on Irfan Pathan, he has been pretty ordinary with the ball and bat and has been hanging in the team with the T20 finals performance. Yuvraj and Dhoni considered as the future of Indian Cricket atleast in this format of the game, should lead from the front to win matches. Dhoni i feel should be more positive and play his normal game and not leave everything to the final overs, he took too much time to get his eye in, even when the asking run-rate was above 9 runs per over, he was satisfied with singles. Over All the team some how lacked the attitude to win big matches.
Full credit to Pakistan for coming back from a big defeat in the league phase to win the finals comfortably, most importantly they played as a team.
It was poor bowling and bad fielding from the indian's that cost the finals, R.Sharma dropped a sitter and the way he reacted to that was not at all desirable. He was quick to defend himself giving some reason (lost in the crowd) for the lapse, any good cricketer will first feel bad or don't defend for putting down a catch. I am sure that our media is not doing any good to keep these new found hero's feat in ground.High time that these young cricketers realize that their place is not for granted. Ishant Sharma bowled well in patches but some how seems to have lost the trick to take wickets. Praveen Kumar bowled well but did not get any support from the other end to restrict the Pakistanis. I.Pathan suppose to be a bowling all rounder was feeding the batsmen with boundary's in each and every over and made things easy for the batsmen not to take any risks. Bhatt and Younis made sure that Chawla never settle down with controlled attack and he proved costly to finish gifting 85 runs in his 10 overs. Dhoni's in experience showed in rotating the bowlers, Yousuf Pathan was bowled only 2 overs when he bowled reasonably well. He also used too many bowlers (7) and never seemed to be in control. But for Youraj,Raina and Gambhir to an extent the fielding was not up to the mark with the classic example of praveen kumar who showed no intention of throwing himself to stop boundary's.
Indian batting order badly missed the services of experience batsmen who could come good in crunch situations. Sehwag disappointed once again when the team needs a good start. Gambhir showed glimpses of his class but not carrying it till the end, he has been doing well in the big stage in the recent past but failed today. R.Sharma,Raina,Y.Pathan all had the best opportunity to prove themselves and move to the higher league but failed to latch on to the chance that too after getting starts. Irfan the all rounder coming at the crunch stage of the match just could not raise to the occasion and also wasted some juicy full tosses and created lot of pressure on dhoni watching haplessly from the other end. Its time the selectors take some hard decisions on Irfan Pathan, he has been pretty ordinary with the ball and bat and has been hanging in the team with the T20 finals performance. Yuvraj and Dhoni considered as the future of Indian Cricket atleast in this format of the game, should lead from the front to win matches. Dhoni i feel should be more positive and play his normal game and not leave everything to the final overs, he took too much time to get his eye in, even when the asking run-rate was above 9 runs per over, he was satisfied with singles. Over All the team some how lacked the attitude to win big matches.
Full credit to Pakistan for coming back from a big defeat in the league phase to win the finals comfortably, most importantly they played as a team.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Croatia Beat Germany !!!!!!!
Just wondering why this header ?? I just could not resist writing on the match between Croatia and Germany. Croatia played some stunning football and it was bad display by the star studded Germany. The first half was full of zest and phase with the ball in the D almost all the time, either it is the Germen's or Croatians. It was some superb passing and selfless game from the Croatians made them win the game, the first goal was a great pass in the D to make things easy for Srna to strike it past Lehmann in the 24th minute and it was missed opportunity from the Germans with Klose,Ballack missing some simple chances. Podolski finally scored for Germany to lose with score line 2-1.
Yet another absorbing 1st days play in the careebian with Australia finishing the day with 226-7. It was again Symonds who saved the day for the Aussies with a fine half century and put up a 75+ partnership with Haddin. At one stage Aussies were at 110 for 5 with the top order back in the pavilion with some good bowling and few bad shorts which cost Aussie wickets. Hussey and Jaques were out for some very ordinary shorts, pulling straight to the fielder. Bravo sent back Clark with a beauty, the ball pitched on the off stump and moved a shade to take the edge from the tentative Clark, Taylor's full length in-swinger got Ponting caught plumb in front. Ponting has been troubled by the in-coming deliveries in the recent past, Ishant Sharma also got him out with the sharp in coming ones, hope Ponting will get over that in time and practice. Now its up to the West Indies to take control of the match, they just need to bat well and post a big total to put Australia in pressure to win the match,provided play is not stopped by rain.
Yet another professional display from Team India to beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets with lots of overs left chasing a moderate total of 222. Gambhir and Sehwag should carry the good starts to the all important finals against Pakistan to take Team India to a series victory.
Yet another absorbing 1st days play in the careebian with Australia finishing the day with 226-7. It was again Symonds who saved the day for the Aussies with a fine half century and put up a 75+ partnership with Haddin. At one stage Aussies were at 110 for 5 with the top order back in the pavilion with some good bowling and few bad shorts which cost Aussie wickets. Hussey and Jaques were out for some very ordinary shorts, pulling straight to the fielder. Bravo sent back Clark with a beauty, the ball pitched on the off stump and moved a shade to take the edge from the tentative Clark, Taylor's full length in-swinger got Ponting caught plumb in front. Ponting has been troubled by the in-coming deliveries in the recent past, Ishant Sharma also got him out with the sharp in coming ones, hope Ponting will get over that in time and practice. Now its up to the West Indies to take control of the match, they just need to bat well and post a big total to put Australia in pressure to win the match,provided play is not stopped by rain.
Yet another professional display from Team India to beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets with lots of overs left chasing a moderate total of 222. Gambhir and Sehwag should carry the good starts to the all important finals against Pakistan to take Team India to a series victory.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Will West Indies Level Series
It was a hard fought contest in the 2nd test between West Indies and Australia, but for Tiffin's dubious decisions WI would have had a decent chance of going into the 3rd decisive test with much more confidence. WI has showed lot of character in putting up a good show against Aussies, one bad day in the 1st test changed the game and Australia won the match. Chanderpaul with 330+ runs in the two tests and Sharwan scoring a ton in the 2nd test has been in great touch, if Bravo and other top order clicks its not going to be easy for the Aussies.
Aussies have had some rest before the final test for the fast bowlers in BrettLee, Clark to get back into their stride and really go all out in this final test match. I think MacGill will not be missed much, with the inclusion of Casson the slow left arm bowler, they have the mix to take all the 20 WI wickets in the test. Not to mention that Aussie batsmen are in good nick with Ponting,Symonds,katich coming good and its time that Hussey comes good in this final test. All in all its going to be an absorbing tussle and we can expect some quality cricket over the next 4-5 days.
On the T20 frenzy, it seems that Antiguan-based billionaire Allen Stanford has designed a 5 match series between England and West Indies which is going to make the England players real rich and the price money is 20 Million which is huge compared to even the richly rich IPL. I am sure Lalith Modi is watching this development closely and with no doubt IPL will get even more richer by innovating sponsorship deals in the coming years to ensure that IPL stays on top.
Good Times for cricketing community all around the world.
Aussies have had some rest before the final test for the fast bowlers in BrettLee, Clark to get back into their stride and really go all out in this final test match. I think MacGill will not be missed much, with the inclusion of Casson the slow left arm bowler, they have the mix to take all the 20 WI wickets in the test. Not to mention that Aussie batsmen are in good nick with Ponting,Symonds,katich coming good and its time that Hussey comes good in this final test. All in all its going to be an absorbing tussle and we can expect some quality cricket over the next 4-5 days.
On the T20 frenzy, it seems that Antiguan-based billionaire Allen Stanford has designed a 5 match series between England and West Indies which is going to make the England players real rich and the price money is 20 Million which is huge compared to even the richly rich IPL. I am sure Lalith Modi is watching this development closely and with no doubt IPL will get even more richer by innovating sponsorship deals in the coming years to ensure that IPL stays on top.
Good Times for cricketing community all around the world.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Easy For Team India
Team India players carried the form from the IPL to win yesterday's match by over 140+ runs. It will keep the confidence going for the young Indian team, its nice to see Sehwag is back among runs. Gambhir has been in very good nick and hope he continues with the form through out the season, Youraj has again proved that he is good on flat tracks with a half century. Praveen Kumar and Chawla took 4 wickets each to ensure a easy win for Team India.
Yousuf Pathan had forgettable debut with bat and ball, hope he comes good in the game against Bangladesh. P.Chawla is gaining confidence in every game he plays and has been proving that he can take wickets at regular intervals which is very important for any format of the game. Ishanth Sharma bowled well but some how he is lacking the ability to take wickets since the IPL, I feel that coach and the captain should give him confidence to get back to his best. After all he is the future for Indian fast bowling, even though bowlers in Praveen Kumar are performing well, i feel these guys (PraveenKumar,MunafPatel,IrfanPathan,R.P.Singh) are seasonal players and i doubt that they have the real ability to perform consistently well at the Test Level, these are bowlers who survive on few good performances with the conditions helping them to do that. We need bowlers who can dominate the batsmen and bowl spells where they could finish off the innings, not the kind who pick 5-150+ its not going to help the team win matches. I also feel these players attitude towards the game is very different on every small success from the ones who have played the game long with passion and great respect. I am little worried that youngsters like Rohith Sharma start to emulate these players with every little success.
This is great opportunity for the Indian selectors to infuse youngsters from the India Under 19 team to build a future with the level headed Dhoni in the helm of affairs.
Yousuf Pathan had forgettable debut with bat and ball, hope he comes good in the game against Bangladesh. P.Chawla is gaining confidence in every game he plays and has been proving that he can take wickets at regular intervals which is very important for any format of the game. Ishanth Sharma bowled well but some how he is lacking the ability to take wickets since the IPL, I feel that coach and the captain should give him confidence to get back to his best. After all he is the future for Indian fast bowling, even though bowlers in Praveen Kumar are performing well, i feel these guys (PraveenKumar,MunafPatel,IrfanPathan,R.P.Singh) are seasonal players and i doubt that they have the real ability to perform consistently well at the Test Level, these are bowlers who survive on few good performances with the conditions helping them to do that. We need bowlers who can dominate the batsmen and bowl spells where they could finish off the innings, not the kind who pick 5-150+ its not going to help the team win matches. I also feel these players attitude towards the game is very different on every small success from the ones who have played the game long with passion and great respect. I am little worried that youngsters like Rohith Sharma start to emulate these players with every little success.
This is great opportunity for the Indian selectors to infuse youngsters from the India Under 19 team to build a future with the level headed Dhoni in the helm of affairs.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Gony & Yusuf Pathan in Playing XI
Two Indian IPL star performers in Gony and Y.Pathan is all set to get a chance in the playing XI in today's match against Pakistan. With Sehwag down with fever is a doubtful starter and in all probability R.Uthappa is to open with Gambhir. If the team management decides to play an extra batsmen then it should be Raina and if they decide on a bowler it will be Gony who will make it to the playing XI.
It should be a good contest, Pakistan unbeaten for last 12 matches and with some good rest should be raring to take on the tired but in touch Team India. Bowling looks little worrisome for India with the stick they have been receiving in the batsmen friendly wickets and they have to adjust quick to 50-50 and not think of 6 an over is good in T20 mind set. Wickets are more important in this format and the strike bowler in Ishant should fire and look for taking wickets. Dhoni will be missing the services of Sachin who was in brilliant form in the tri-series in Australia which India beat Australia in the finals with two big knocks from Sachin.
Slowly but surely Euro-2008 is getting into the living rooms, it was boring game between Romania and France ending a goal less draw but Netherlands were just too good for the World Champions Italy with final score line as 3-0.
It should be a good contest, Pakistan unbeaten for last 12 matches and with some good rest should be raring to take on the tired but in touch Team India. Bowling looks little worrisome for India with the stick they have been receiving in the batsmen friendly wickets and they have to adjust quick to 50-50 and not think of 6 an over is good in T20 mind set. Wickets are more important in this format and the strike bowler in Ishant should fire and look for taking wickets. Dhoni will be missing the services of Sachin who was in brilliant form in the tri-series in Australia which India beat Australia in the finals with two big knocks from Sachin.
Slowly but surely Euro-2008 is getting into the living rooms, it was boring game between Romania and France ending a goal less draw but Netherlands were just too good for the World Champions Italy with final score line as 3-0.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Wet Welcome to Tri-Series
As expected the first match between Bangladesh and Pakistan was delayed by rain and restricted to 40 overs a side. Pakistan won the match comfortably with contributions from Salman Bhatt, Mohammed Yousuf, Misbah in batting and Afridi chipping with three wickets. Only batsmen to score for Bangladesh was Ashraful with 50+. Given that its monsoon season for Bangladesh, hope and wish we get full 50 overs of play this Tuesday when Team India takes on Pakistan.
NewZealand lost the 3rd test by an innings with out much fight, except for MacCullam and Flynn no batsmen showed any inclination to fight it out. A quick-fire unbeaten 50 by Oram will help his confidence going. With the overcast whether and pitch assisting seam bowling SideBottom made full use of the conditions to pick 6 wickets to rap up the new Zealand innings. The series started off well with both teams fighting to win the 1st test, the 2nd test could have gone either way but in the 3rd Test but for the 1st day when england were 89-5 , through out the test it was England's game.
Modi seems to be the man behind creating all possible means to make full use of the frenzy the T20 format has created. Yes I am referring to the Champions Trophy for T20 champions from all over the world. The format is like two top teams from each country will fight it out for the Champions Trophy. Its early days in conceptualizing the event and one can only except good things from this man Modi. One sad part is that no one from the ICL is eligible for this tournament even though they play domestic cricket for these teams in their respective country or county. Mode is hell bent on sending the ICL to trash.
NewZealand lost the 3rd test by an innings with out much fight, except for MacCullam and Flynn no batsmen showed any inclination to fight it out. A quick-fire unbeaten 50 by Oram will help his confidence going. With the overcast whether and pitch assisting seam bowling SideBottom made full use of the conditions to pick 6 wickets to rap up the new Zealand innings. The series started off well with both teams fighting to win the 1st test, the 2nd test could have gone either way but in the 3rd Test but for the 1st day when england were 89-5 , through out the test it was England's game.
Modi seems to be the man behind creating all possible means to make full use of the frenzy the T20 format has created. Yes I am referring to the Champions Trophy for T20 champions from all over the world. The format is like two top teams from each country will fight it out for the Champions Trophy. Its early days in conceptualizing the event and one can only except good things from this man Modi. One sad part is that no one from the ICL is eligible for this tournament even though they play domestic cricket for these teams in their respective country or county. Mode is hell bent on sending the ICL to trash.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Anderson demolishes Kiwis
It was great exhibition of swing bowling by the young talented Anderson which demolished New Zeland to 120+. Die hard cricketers must have watched two days of great cricket action. 1st day England was 89-5 and Peterson and Ambrose played the waiting game and saved the day and England finished respectably with 350+ in day 2. Anderson and Sidebotton never let the Kiwi batsmen to settle down. The deliveries that saw the back of MacCullum and Taylor was beauty and testimony to great control of swing bowling. The ball seamed of the wicket so much, that only disciplined bowling could keep the ball on target and thats what Anderson did and did that very well. Anderson is a good bowler and it is very unfortunate that he has not been used properly by the England team. He has been in and out of the team because of the senior bowlers like Hoggard, Flintoff etc.
Tuesday 10th, India will take on Pakistan in the tri-nation tourney in Mirpur and the weather news is not that good. I wonder how the various cricket boards schedule tournaments when its monsoon in the hosting country. Anyway lets hope that rain gods show some mercy on bangladesh which almost always is hit by hurricanes and heavy rains. Indian middle order is young and in-experienced with just Dhoni and Yuvraj to have played some amount of the ODI. This should be a good opportunity for the youngsters like Rohit Sharma,Raina,Gambhir to stake a permanent place in the Indian squad. Players like Yousuf Pathan, Ohja should get fair chance to prove their talent in the two tournaments to stay in the scheme of things in the ODI format of Indian Cricket.
Its heartening to see that the selectors have rewarded performance, Gony is replacing Sreesanth, even though he should have been in the original squad in place of players like R.P.Singh who has not shown any sign of returning to form.
I have a feeling that this Tri-series and the Asia Cup will not generate big interest from the viewers as they are yet to recover from the IPL hangover. Also events like Euro-2008 will divide the viewers and yet again its time to fight in the living room to get control of the TV from the women folk back to watching the Great Indian Soaps.
Tuesday 10th, India will take on Pakistan in the tri-nation tourney in Mirpur and the weather news is not that good. I wonder how the various cricket boards schedule tournaments when its monsoon in the hosting country. Anyway lets hope that rain gods show some mercy on bangladesh which almost always is hit by hurricanes and heavy rains. Indian middle order is young and in-experienced with just Dhoni and Yuvraj to have played some amount of the ODI. This should be a good opportunity for the youngsters like Rohit Sharma,Raina,Gambhir to stake a permanent place in the Indian squad. Players like Yousuf Pathan, Ohja should get fair chance to prove their talent in the two tournaments to stay in the scheme of things in the ODI format of Indian Cricket.
Its heartening to see that the selectors have rewarded performance, Gony is replacing Sreesanth, even though he should have been in the original squad in place of players like R.P.Singh who has not shown any sign of returning to form.
I have a feeling that this Tri-series and the Asia Cup will not generate big interest from the viewers as they are yet to recover from the IPL hangover. Also events like Euro-2008 will divide the viewers and yet again its time to fight in the living room to get control of the TV from the women folk back to watching the Great Indian Soaps.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Why CSK lost the Finals ?
It was a great gesture from Dhoni to say that CSK lost as a team and that he does not want to point at any one turning point for losing the finals. The whole team should be feeling lot better to hear their captain backing the team and not pointing to any individual for the loss.
I am sure CSK Team Management for cricket affairs would have started to analyze where the team went wrong and what were the crucial mistakes committed by the team, starting from the team selection to the last over in the finals. There will be an overall team performance analysis and the finals in particular.
I have tried to bring out the reasons which cost the trophy for CSK.
1. From the team selection point of view, why would CSK need the seventh batsmen in SriLankan Kappuganera in a T20 match? He has scored all single digit scores in the previous 4-5 games and never looked in control. It is the captain who has all along in the tournament said that their bowling is the weak link, then why not take a fifth bowler in Joginder Sharma. Agreed that he has not bowled that well in IPL but he would added variety to the bowling attack and would have bowled much better than balaji in the death overs.
2. Why would Dhoni send in Badrinath after kappuganera? Badri has been in very good form in the second part of the IPL and has won couple of games for CSK. I am lost on why Badri should be sent after the SriLankan batsmen. Its agreed that if he had scored quick runs, we would have talked other wise, but why would some one gamble when you have good batting line up and that too in the finals. I am not blaming Dhoni for every thing that has gone wrong. Its the team management, which includes the coach.
3. Dhoni has been the only captain who has not used the part time bowlers at any stage of the game. Vidyuth has taken lot of wickets in domestic cricket and was selected as an all rounder for the India Under-19 team. Being a left armer he would add lot of variety to the bowling, why not try him even in a single match ?? Badrinath, Raina are bowling regularly for their state teams in the domestic tournaments. I think Dhoni has to make use of these talents better than to just use the specialist bowlers. It becomes quite predictable for the opposition in such a long tournament.
4. Why would a captain finish his successful bowler Goni early and not make use of him in the end overs. Relying on Balaji, who does not have the pace or bite to create doubts in the batsmen to be used in last overs is pathetic. Balaji should have completed his spell by 15th over of the innings, there was a lot of pressure while chasing as the run rate climbed in the middle overs. The main strike bowlers should be used in the end overs. I feel Murali has not been used as a wicket taking bowler through-out the tournament. He was used as a bowler to restrict the run-rate but as the world has seen he is one of the finest wicket taking bowler in any form of cricket. He should have been the strike bowler for CSK but he has been turned out to play a very small part in the CSK run to the finals.
There were lapses in fielding and catching in the finals which also cost CSK the finals but these are bound to happen in a pressure finals where lot other things are at stake other than cricket. Hope CSK will come strong for the second edition of IPL and Dhoni will mature as a captain and use the available resources well.
I am sure CSK Team Management for cricket affairs would have started to analyze where the team went wrong and what were the crucial mistakes committed by the team, starting from the team selection to the last over in the finals. There will be an overall team performance analysis and the finals in particular.
I have tried to bring out the reasons which cost the trophy for CSK.
1. From the team selection point of view, why would CSK need the seventh batsmen in SriLankan Kappuganera in a T20 match? He has scored all single digit scores in the previous 4-5 games and never looked in control. It is the captain who has all along in the tournament said that their bowling is the weak link, then why not take a fifth bowler in Joginder Sharma. Agreed that he has not bowled that well in IPL but he would added variety to the bowling attack and would have bowled much better than balaji in the death overs.
2. Why would Dhoni send in Badrinath after kappuganera? Badri has been in very good form in the second part of the IPL and has won couple of games for CSK. I am lost on why Badri should be sent after the SriLankan batsmen. Its agreed that if he had scored quick runs, we would have talked other wise, but why would some one gamble when you have good batting line up and that too in the finals. I am not blaming Dhoni for every thing that has gone wrong. Its the team management, which includes the coach.
3. Dhoni has been the only captain who has not used the part time bowlers at any stage of the game. Vidyuth has taken lot of wickets in domestic cricket and was selected as an all rounder for the India Under-19 team. Being a left armer he would add lot of variety to the bowling, why not try him even in a single match ?? Badrinath, Raina are bowling regularly for their state teams in the domestic tournaments. I think Dhoni has to make use of these talents better than to just use the specialist bowlers. It becomes quite predictable for the opposition in such a long tournament.
4. Why would a captain finish his successful bowler Goni early and not make use of him in the end overs. Relying on Balaji, who does not have the pace or bite to create doubts in the batsmen to be used in last overs is pathetic. Balaji should have completed his spell by 15th over of the innings, there was a lot of pressure while chasing as the run rate climbed in the middle overs. The main strike bowlers should be used in the end overs. I feel Murali has not been used as a wicket taking bowler through-out the tournament. He was used as a bowler to restrict the run-rate but as the world has seen he is one of the finest wicket taking bowler in any form of cricket. He should have been the strike bowler for CSK but he has been turned out to play a very small part in the CSK run to the finals.
There were lapses in fielding and catching in the finals which also cost CSK the finals but these are bound to happen in a pressure finals where lot other things are at stake other than cricket. Hope CSK will come strong for the second edition of IPL and Dhoni will mature as a captain and use the available resources well.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Victims of IPL
After the grand success of the IPL, there are few victims of the new found money minting league in world cricket. Great players like Hayden,Sachin,Akhtar are unfit for national duty. Sachin came into the later part of the IPL to help his city team Mumbai Indians and every one thought he was fully fit but, he has aggravated his injury and out of action for Indian teams ODI tournament. Hayden's heel injury is said to have been sustained in the early stages of the tour to the West Indies but i doubt that he should have aggravated an injury carried through the IPL. If players with such good fitness fail to take this format, one can imagine the fate of players like Zaheer,M.Karthick etc who are prone for injuries and again not fit for selection.
IPL is played in the peak summer in India, Even the 3 hours T20 game will drain the players and the way the matches are scheduled with just one day break and hell a lot of traveling as, one home and away is the scheme of things and the kind of noise in the stadiums in sub-continent could take everything from the players.In one of my earlier posts I had mentioned that its very tough on the players and it has proved right.
I am a great fan of Sachin and have come across articles which point to, that he never would want to miss a match and its sad that he has been missing many international matches on lack of fitness. Wish Sachin saves his fitness for some more years to play Test Cricket for India, rather than playing the numerous T20 games.
IPL is played in the peak summer in India, Even the 3 hours T20 game will drain the players and the way the matches are scheduled with just one day break and hell a lot of traveling as, one home and away is the scheme of things and the kind of noise in the stadiums in sub-continent could take everything from the players.In one of my earlier posts I had mentioned that its very tough on the players and it has proved right.
I am a great fan of Sachin and have come across articles which point to, that he never would want to miss a match and its sad that he has been missing many international matches on lack of fitness. Wish Sachin saves his fitness for some more years to play Test Cricket for India, rather than playing the numerous T20 games.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Empty Stands
Where have the crowds for Test Cricket gone is the first thing that hits us badly when you get to see empty stands for Test Cricket and that too in West Indies (WI). WI suppose to be a place where crowds swell and fans waiting for their turn to get into the stadium but the stadium was just empty on the 5th day play between WI and Aus. Some brilliant batting by Sarwan and Chanderpaul saved the test for WI, but there were hardly any fans to applaud the great innings.
With the big success of the IPL, i fear that the same empty stands will be seen even in India for test cricket few years from now. BCCI has successfully marketed cricket into the living rooms with whole of the family taking part in the viewing, but i feel it should also keep in mind that it should not end up over doing it. Come 2009, IPL will be played between 1st week of April to end of May, the tournament is followed by the T20 World Cup which i am sure will not get the same attention as it did in the T20 World Cup last time around. I am confident that BCCI will take note of this and keep the interest going in all possible way.
ICC is delving with some idea to bring in the crowds to the stadium with restrictions on number of overs for each innings in Test Cricket, in my opinion it will kill the joy of watching great tussle between the bat and the ball. The idea will make things interesting but take out the sheen out of Test cricket and will become more predictable over time. ICC needs to act quickly to save the game from the slam bang cricket, I am not against the new formats of the game but I plead to save the game CRICKET in the true sense.
With the big success of the IPL, i fear that the same empty stands will be seen even in India for test cricket few years from now. BCCI has successfully marketed cricket into the living rooms with whole of the family taking part in the viewing, but i feel it should also keep in mind that it should not end up over doing it. Come 2009, IPL will be played between 1st week of April to end of May, the tournament is followed by the T20 World Cup which i am sure will not get the same attention as it did in the T20 World Cup last time around. I am confident that BCCI will take note of this and keep the interest going in all possible way.
ICC is delving with some idea to bring in the crowds to the stadium with restrictions on number of overs for each innings in Test Cricket, in my opinion it will kill the joy of watching great tussle between the bat and the ball. The idea will make things interesting but take out the sheen out of Test cricket and will become more predictable over time. ICC needs to act quickly to save the game from the slam bang cricket, I am not against the new formats of the game but I plead to save the game CRICKET in the true sense.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Tiffin picks 3 of 5
In a late afternoon bust from Brett Lee, West Indies (WI) collapsed from 314 for 4 to 352 all out. Lee bowled quick and some great in swingers to unsettle the batsmen. Lee returned figures of 5 for 59 with the help of some questionable decisions from umpire Tiffin. Going to the final day, Australia is leading by 350+ runs and well poised to beat WI in the 2nd Test.
WI was sailing comfortably with Chanderpaul and Bravo batting well and showed promise to take WI score past 400+ with out any further wickets but then at this point Tiffin played a very vital part in 3 dismissals. Bravo played one on the leg side and the ball hit the thigh pads and Haddin collected the ball, Lee and Haddin appealed and Tiffin obliged the same and Bravo was visibly upset. The TV replay clearly showed that Tiffin got it wrong. The very next ball Lee sent in a quick yorker and the ball hit the batsmen outside the line of off stump and again umpire Tiffin raised his finger. The very next over of Lee, the same umpire, same delivery and the same result and this time it was Sammy who was unfortunate to take the wrong decision. Lee (Tiffin) took 3 quick wickets and the rest of the tail just perished. In the mean time Chanderpaul, the lone fighter for WI made his 19th hundred.
I feel sad for the WI and do not understand why the umpires are hesitant to refer to the 3rd umpire on close calls. I feel its time that the technology should be used to the maximum to avoid issues like these, which change the course of the match. I am not saying every decision should be referred to the 3rd umpire but i feel the 3rd umpire should get into action if the replay shows that the decision was wrong. After all umpires are human and bound to make mistakes, all the players and umpires are professionals and i am sure will take things in stride and move on if a wrong decision is made and the 3rd umpire reverts the decision.
There has been lot of instances like this in the recent past ( Steve Buckner IND vs AUS, Rudy Kursten Aus vs SriLanka etc etc) and hope ICC will take some decisions on this soon.
WI was sailing comfortably with Chanderpaul and Bravo batting well and showed promise to take WI score past 400+ with out any further wickets but then at this point Tiffin played a very vital part in 3 dismissals. Bravo played one on the leg side and the ball hit the thigh pads and Haddin collected the ball, Lee and Haddin appealed and Tiffin obliged the same and Bravo was visibly upset. The TV replay clearly showed that Tiffin got it wrong. The very next ball Lee sent in a quick yorker and the ball hit the batsmen outside the line of off stump and again umpire Tiffin raised his finger. The very next over of Lee, the same umpire, same delivery and the same result and this time it was Sammy who was unfortunate to take the wrong decision. Lee (Tiffin) took 3 quick wickets and the rest of the tail just perished. In the mean time Chanderpaul, the lone fighter for WI made his 19th hundred.
I feel sad for the WI and do not understand why the umpires are hesitant to refer to the 3rd umpire on close calls. I feel its time that the technology should be used to the maximum to avoid issues like these, which change the course of the match. I am not saying every decision should be referred to the 3rd umpire but i feel the 3rd umpire should get into action if the replay shows that the decision was wrong. After all umpires are human and bound to make mistakes, all the players and umpires are professionals and i am sure will take things in stride and move on if a wrong decision is made and the 3rd umpire reverts the decision.
There has been lot of instances like this in the recent past ( Steve Buckner IND vs AUS, Rudy Kursten Aus vs SriLanka etc etc) and hope ICC will take some decisions on this soon.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
IPL will be Missed
India had the best 45 days of cricatainment in a long long time, every indian family enjoyed the T20 contest to the core and the success of the IPL needs to be applauded. We should be thanking the man behind the show Lalit Kumar Modi for providing us with such wholesome entertainment.
It was a wonderful finals with all the elements one could ask for in a finals, congratulations to Rajasthan and thanks and good luck to Chennai Super Kings on providing us a fantastic contest. I have no doubt that its going to be even more exciting and big in the next edition of IPL.
It has become a habit of rushing to home in time to catch the action live and talk endlessly on what happened in the previous evening's game and prospects of each and every team in the middle of the tournament, taking sides, heated arguments, lighter comments etc etc
We all are going to miss IPL.
It was a wonderful finals with all the elements one could ask for in a finals, congratulations to Rajasthan and thanks and good luck to Chennai Super Kings on providing us a fantastic contest. I have no doubt that its going to be even more exciting and big in the next edition of IPL.
It has become a habit of rushing to home in time to catch the action live and talk endlessly on what happened in the previous evening's game and prospects of each and every team in the middle of the tournament, taking sides, heated arguments, lighter comments etc etc
We all are going to miss IPL.
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