CricDigs Blogs

Here is what Sachin Tendulkar has “achieved” so far.

41 Test Centuries, 42 ODI centuries (Total 83 International Hundreds), Almost 29000 International runs with an average of 55 and 45 (Test & ODI),
Countless number of Man Of The Matches, including
Player Of the World Cup in 2003.

Other than Ponting with 36 Test Centuries no one is even close to Sachin with these numbers…..

What more does he have to do?

In recent times….

He scored most runs in the Test-Series between both the teams during India’s tour Down Under last year.
He scored heavily in the CB Series Finals to ensure India’s 2-0 victory. Played some important knocks when the Aussies visited India in Oct-Nov 2008

But then he has never played under pressure……So they say…So looks like when Sachin scored all these runs India has always been in a great and position of strength…..Come on get real…..

I guess when he scored that unbeaten hundred in Chennai this Monday to lead India to a record-breaking 387 run chase, one would think that he will get the credit, but when I was watching a show on Neo-Cricket, a lot of the caller were saying the it was because of Sehwag that we won the match. So Blame Sachin when he beings us close to victory but does not finish it but don’t give him credit when he takes a start given by someone else and gets India to the unbelievable win on the 5th day..

So regardless of what he has done so far or will do in the future, unless Sachin single handedly wins the World Cup for India and mind you it has to be single handedly, with no one else contributing at all (how one can do that in a team sport is beyond my comprehension), he will always be criticized by many for not doing “anything” when it was required…

But who cares what these people think or say…For someone like me and I am sure there are millions like me, it is true that….

Cricket Is My Religion And Sachin Is It’s Ultimate God!!

I wrote a tribute story on two players we have grown to love, Dada and Jumbo. It’s found at http://christopherdavid007.blogspot.com/2008/11/legendary-farewell-for-two-legends.html

Hope you come and take a look at it (It is quite big). But worthwhile reading never the less.

I read somewhere that Hayden blamed “Third-world” conditions that they had to deal with in India for Australia’s bad performance and especially their poor over-rate….

So much for the macho man that he is considered. I guess physical and mental toughness are 2 different things. Hayden mentioned that Heat was one of the reasons that they could not get it done fast enough. I did not know that Hayden came from Western Europe and not Australia…

Here are some of the excuses Hayden gave (it’s coming from an unofficial and anonymous source)

1. Some of our bowlers were not fit and therefore were taking forever to complete their overs.

2. We have a Captain who does not know how to lead when we are behind and did not know how to call the toss….

3. We were all home-sick and thinking about families back home and therefore had a hard time focusing.

4. The Indian Batsmen out there were speaking in “Hindu” or whatever that language is called and we had to relay that over to the dressing-room to get it decoded so we could understand their strategies. This added to the delay in our over-rate.

5. There were a lot of centuries/double-centuries scored and the celebrations took forever.

6. A lot of boundaries were hit and we had to run all the way to the fence to fetch the ball.

7. The music played on the ground was not to our liking (not sure how this matters….)

8. We had to travel to different cities to play different Tests and that confused our bowlers.

9. Due to poor ground conditions our bowlers had to lengthen their run-ups to get generate the same pace.

10. We did not really have good spinners….Not sure what is happening with Shane Warne’s return. We really need him bad….Rest of these folks are just bad.

I am sure there are more reasons that Hayden put forward. May be you have heard some of them….

I can understand if some of you may have developed some feelings of sympathy for the Aussie skipper — Ricky Ponting. When is the last time anyone heard an Australian player admitting that they would be returning home with their tails between their legs? Well, I am not one of them. I am enjoying every moment of the backlash that Ponting is receiving back home and with the Indian media. Cricket Australia has pulled up Ricky asking for an explanation of the events that lead to a very rare 2-0 defeat in a test match series. People are questioning his defensive tactics. I guess most of them are forgetting what Ian Chappell keeps repeating — a captain is only as good as the team. Just look at the Aussie squad.

It is depleted without any world-beating pace bowler with Brett Lee’s form nosediving. Krejza might have impressed a few people with his 8-wicket haul in the first innings of the Nagpur test, but he is certainly no Shane Warne, but is that really a valid excuse? After all, the Aussies have always been proud of finding the best replacements for their world beating squad. Even the staunchest of Ponting supporters like Steven Waugh have left him in the lurch. Everybody is baying for his blood. It isn’t every day that an Aussie team is defeated 2 to nil. Ponting has been guilty of letting the Indians dictate terms to him. His fast bowlers never seemed to keen to try and bounce the Indian batsmen.

He chose Cameron White despite reservations from the selection committee. What role did White exactly play in the squad? He never looked like a wicket-taker. He never threatened as a batsmen and he was uninspiring with his presence on the field. Further, the reported spat with Lee has spoiled Ponting’s reputation. To add to his problems, Ponting has taken upon a somewhat uncharacteristic role when facing the media in India. He seems to have humbled down and does no longer seem like the foul-mouthed, will-shoot-from-the-lips before thinking sort of a person he was till last season.

The fourth test match at Nagpur was eagerly awaited by fans and the cricketing fraternity across continents. Day one happenings weren’t as dramatic as some people might have hoped them to be but there were still some noteworthy innings played by the Indian batsmen. India’s new opening pair of Sehewag and Vijay did lay some sort of a foundation with almost a 100-run partnership. There was one surprise package though and it came from the Aussie camp — the debutant off-spinner, Jason Krejza who went on to break the opening partnership by claiming Sehewag and then sent back Dravid for a duck. Sehewag’s belligerent ways were eventually replaced by the cool and calculated approach of Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman.

India had lost the debutant Vijay — who looked pretty comfortable for his debut match, Dravid and Sehwag within 30 deliveries. It was left to the old warhorses — Tendulkar and Laxman to put an end to the Aussie charge as they chose to play straight down the V, seldom trying to get too cute with the bowlers. For some strange reason, Laxman did seem anxious and over-defensive. May be this being his 100th test match and the retirement of his old pal, Kumble had something to do with that. Some more concerting strokeplay from Tendulkar and Laxman ensured that India did cross the 200-mark without too many hiccups. Sachin eventually did get to the 100-mark, he seemed so focussed upon reaching but got out soon after that. Laxman too didn’t survive too long after scoring another half-century.

It has to be said that Laxman’s appetite for scoring half-centuries is perhaps amongst the best in the business. Trace his performance over the last few seasons, it is dotted with half-centuries and some of them have been very crucial for the team’s cause but still one would hope that VVS tries and converts more of them into centuries. When the day ended, India had barely crossed the 300-run mark for the loss of five wickets. On such a placid track and a track rendered impotent by retirements and lack of options, it doesn’t sound that great a scoring card. India should endeavour to score at least 500 runs to give themselves a realistic chance of winning the series 2 to nil.

It is apparent that retirement hasn’t been that easy for the former Aussie keeper, Adam Gilchrist. From the looks of it, the keeper and the game’s most destructive batsman can’t stop himself from raising one ungrounded point after another. First, he was questioning the sporting spirit of Sachin Tendulkar and what happened? The Aussie media itself and some major sporting channels started displaying pictures of what had actually happened during the infamous Sydney test. Realising that his theory had no takers, Gilly turned head-over-heels on his opinion and apologised to Tendulkar. Then, he created some sort of concoction that combined the happenings of that Sydney test match and his retirement.

If he is to be believed, it wasn’t his age but the way in which the match was played and the method in which the Indians conducted themselves that led him to announce his retirement from the game. Guess what happened? Gilly realised that not many people believed him and he again did a U-turn and somehow twisted his views into a sympathy-gaining forum by stating that he was apologetic for falsely claiming Dravid’s wicket during that test match. Now, the ‘Mouth from the South’ — that is what some people are calling him, has come up with another tale of supposed cricketing injustice.

According to him, the media and the ICC has been too lenient on Muralitharan. He believes that the ace spinner’s action is flawed beyond doubt, indirectly suggesting that Murali throws the ball rather than delivering it legally. Don’t be surprised if in a few days from now, Gilly goes back on his views and claims that Murali is the greatest spinner in the world and deserves every bit of appreciation he has got. Just reading these things suggest that hanging up his gloves hasn’t been too kind on Gilchrist’s mental faculties. Rather than trying to attract some sort of attention towards himself in this pathetic fashion, Gilly needs a psychiatrist, a good one. May be someone who can actually explain if these problems are endemic to the Australian dressing room only?

Ponting is smiling a bit after all. The Indian tour hasn’t been most kind on the Australian skipper’s sense of humour. Most of the times he has been caught with the old tongue-in-cheek habit of his. Still the Aussie captain insists that it is the Indian team that is under more pressure to win the test match and that it would be difficult for them to do so with a number of distractions that could derail the team’s focus. He believes this, ignoring that the Aussies are on the verge of losing the test series and even if they draw it, this would be regarded as one of Australia’s worst foreign tours in recent years.
It seems that Ricky is upbeat about the fact that India has lost the services of Gautam Gambhir for the final test match in all probability. That does make some sense but he seems more gung-ho about the problems faced by India. This notwithstanding the fact that Lee, Michael Clarke and Bollinger were missing from the training session because of stomach ailments until Wednesday morning and the rookie, Krejza would be playing in all probability, despite looking very ordinary in the preparatory games. Ponting seems to have ignored the fact that Australia couldn’t dismiss India twice in any of the first three test matches.
The new Indian test captain, MS Dhoni, is however more than confident about his team’s chances. He feels that the retirement of Anil Kumble would only spur on the team to give him a worthwhile farewell gift. Laxman would be more focussed for his 100th test and not distracted, as claimed by some people who can afford to think like Ponting. Dhoni believes that even Ganguly would like to exit on a high which can only be good for the team’s cause. Again, he believes that Bhajji would be more motivated and focussed to take his 300th test scalp and win the match for India. He doesn’t believe that there is any reason to get too emotional or be sidetracked with already-disclosed retirements and records that would be created.

The fourth and probably the most controversial match of the test series between India and Australia in ominously close and the Aussies still seem to be distracted. Their camp has taken note of the fact that the media back home is looking forward to the team being more aggressive on the field but instead of practicing their skills, the team appears more involved in downplaying the Indian threat. One would have expected the Aussies to be more focused with the task on hand, taking into consideration that they have to win this test match to at least square the series. Instead, their players are still busy trying to play some sort of mind games with the media and the Indian team.

As the news of banning Gautam Gambhir reached the Aussie players training at Nagpur, the first reaction came from Mr. Cricket himself, i.e. Michael Hussey. He feels that Gambhir got what he had asked for. According to Hussey, Gambhir has a bit of an attitude and cannot control his aggression and thus, gets engaged with members of the opposing team. Personally speaking, I don’t buy a word of what Hussey is saying. It just looks like the Aussies have exhausted their usual spokesmen who are adept at mudslinging at the opposite team. Ponting’s reputation is in the doldrums, Hayden and Lee aren’t in the best of forms and the rest of the team is pretty new.

So, what does that lead to? The Aussie squad has put forth a new candidate for carrying on what they called mental warfare and the supposed good guy of Aussie cricket — Hussey has fallen prey to their tactics. I still remember that a few years back, Michael Bevan had developed differences with the then skipper, Steven Waugh because he wouldn’t volunteer for hurling abuses and taunting the opposition. It just seems like the Aussies can’t help themselves from making things uncomfortable for everyone.

Most tongues have already been set wagging ever since Kumble announced his somewhat sudden retirement. I would say sudden not because it wasn’t expected but simply because the manner in which it came was a more than just being unusual. However, Kumble’s retirement hasn’t left the Indian team in the kind of lurch some cricketing experts are making it out to be. His fitness had been fledging for some time now and it was only a matter of time before his body started weighing in more than his mind. But his retirement has had one very important impact. This is with regards to the Wall — Rahul Dravid. He and Kumble share many similarities.

First of all, both played for the same state, Karnataka. Both of them broke into the national team on the basis of consistent domestic performances and are counted among the nation’s most admired and respected cricketers. Even on the downside, Dravid and Kumble seem to have struck a series of bad or average performances over the last few matches in coherence with each other. Just a year back, it was difficult to imagine an Indian team without the presence of Dravid in the middle, protecting the middle order and scoring tons of runs. But ever since Dravid’s rather absurd stepping down from the captaincy and the T20 World Cup win under Dhoni, the Indian team has a new and renewed sense of urgency and good players seem to coming by from unexpected corners.

The current mantra of the team is simple. It really doesn’t matter what the averages or pedigree of a talked-about talent is. Only match-winning performances count. This is where Dravid has been a letdown ever since he gave up his captaincy. Most people would have hoped that letting go of captaincy would set his mind free and bring back the solidity to his batting, but Dravid’s problems persist.
Now, with Kumble’s retirement the onus is on Dravid to prove himself if he is still worthy of a test team spot. Two or three more failures and don’t be surprised if the media start asking the question, if Dravid should follow Kumble’s footsteps and end his career before being sacked by the selectors? Thus, the last of tests in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy become so crucial for Dravid.

I really don’t agree with this viewpoint of sacking Dravid that is being propagated by sport channels and cricketing experts. Even if Dravid isn’t in the best of form, can’t he be persisted with for some more period of time, at least for test cricket? What worthy replacements do we have to step in for someone as good as Dravid? Can the likes of Badrinath, Yuvraj or Raina be trusted with a number three spot in the test team? I feel not one of them are even a shadow of Dravid, even when he is struggling. His presence, his expertise and his ability to counter the toughest of times just like that of Tendulkar’s is the glue that is needed to hold the team together.

The Australian press just cannot digest the fact that India can actually uproot them from the top of world test rankings. Now, when it seems that the Aussie bowlers are unable to get through the defences of the Indian batsmen, on our slow pitches, the media Down Under is rife with strange recommendations for the Aussie skipper. Firstly, they want Ponting to be more belligerent in his approach. I really don’t know what is that supposed to suggest?

Does this mean they want their skipper to start shouting abuses at our batsmen again? Does this mean that Ponting asks Hayden to try and score a century before the first drinks break of an Aussie innings? They want him to pick up five specialist bowlers although the squad has no good back-up bowlers? Don’t torment your minds too much with what the Aussie media is suggesting. They often end up saying too much without meaning anything — blabbering that is. I guess it is too much of Fosters in their belly doing the talking. That however is not the end of this ridiculous charade. Some dailies back home have suggested trying out the unseasoned, unimpressive, can’t-spin-a-ball to save his life kind-of-an off-spinner, Jason Krejza. They say since he is in the squad, he must be given a chance. That does make a lot of sense doesn’t it? I mean a lot of Aussie sense — let us select a spinner who cannot spin the ball!!

If that is being sensible in the Aussie mindset, God help our countrymen who are actually living with them in Australia. I had said before in one of my post, the Aussies are Sore, Sore Losers. That is the only viable explanation for this sudden explosion of dim-witted theories floating around. Just imagine this — one test match lost and our world champions have their jaws dropped on the ground. They haven’t lost the series yet!! Gosh! I had heard about a champion’s Ego, but could have never imagined about the world champion’s fall from grace, so quickly and I dare say, so unnecessary.

What good is it going to do I they keep gloating about the retirement of their top players? I don’t hear the West Indies complaining about their loss. I don’t hear the Indians whining about not having found a replacement to Kapil Dev or an opener like Gavaskar. Kiwis don’t weep over not having a Martin Crowe anymore. It hurts badly every time, but the Proteas don’t publicly weep and whine over their misfortune when it comes to World Cups.