CricDigs Blogs

They have done it some may times in the past for India and when they are on-song, no target seem unachievable. After India were 50-odd for 3 while chasing a smallish target of 229, Dhoni and Yuvraj came together again and had a big 143 run partnership that all but finished the match for India…

They both have totally different styles, one is a sheer talent and the other sheer determination and cleverness. The one thing common between the two is they can take any bowling attack apart and can change any match in a course of couple of overs.

This was an important match in the series after a 1-1 situation and this very powerful pair made sure India wins it comfortably..

Here is a player who has it all….So it seems…Where Most Players long to get a shot at playing for the World Cup, He has won a couple as a Captain. He has been the # 1 Batsman in the both forms of the game for a number of years and have been threatening to post the most centuries and an extremely healthy average in Tests….His Team had held on the the #1 spot in ODIs and Tests for a number of years….And it looked as if no team can dislodge them…And Suddenly….

Instead of finishing his career on all of these High Notes, He is hoping that He can continue to play Tests Cricket for 4 more years so he can do what he has been unable to do in his last 2 campaigns (in 2005 & 2009,) that is to win the Ashes in England..His team is at #4 in Tests and #3 ODIs…He is way down in the Players ranking as well…

It is looking all dark and gloomy for this once all successful, all powerful Aussie Captain…

Where does he go from here? We will find out soon. Stay tuned.

You can always bank upon Pakistan to be what no cricket fan wants them to be — hopelessly unpredictable and judgemental. The team just won the T20 World Cup and just when it looked like things were getting back to normal, the tests and ODI series loss to Sri Lanka has come to the fore. What is more disturbing is how comprehensively Pakistan was defeated in every aspect of their game. Further, the ODI loss has evoked negative reactions like match-fixing and news of supposed bookies in the Pakistan team’s hotel lobby is sure to fire-up this issue beyond control. These are self-destructive habits that have always haunted Pakistani cricket and it is about time that the PCB shed its image of being some sort of a colonial powerhouse and started acting like a sports regulatory body and took responsibility for its actions.

Michael Clarke is continuously building upon the reputation of being Australia’s next Steve Waugh as he delivered once again when the team needed it the most. Had it not been for his partnership with Marcus North, Australia would have surely gone down by 2-0 in the Ashes. As things stand now, the momentum seems to be with England as they are already one-up in the series and it is up to Australia to make all the right moves. However, if the England team does sit back and think that they can be passive and let Australia do all the hard work, then things could go horribly wrong. Australia would strike back with vengeance in the fourth test and if England cannot continue with the sustained intensity they have shown till now, it could soon be one all.

Sri Lanka is really having it good in the ongoing one-day series against Pakistan. They had a bit of a scare before winning the first match and now they have just wrapped up the second game, rather comfortably. What is more surprising is the ineffectiveness of Pakistan’s middle order and the fact that both Ajmal and Afridi haven’t been able to spin the ball and make their overs count for anything substantial. This combination was being looked upon as the core of Pakistan’s strategy to contain the Lankan batsmen but both the bowlers have been found guilty of pitching the ball short or make it hurry on to the batsmen, losing out on guile or any degree of appreciable spin. This has been combined with the problem of the skipper, Younis Khan, not firing and being the mainstay of Pakistan’s batting in the middle overs, it has made the team struggle even more. The decision to send-in Afridi up the order too hasn’t fired, but given his past record that cannot be surprising.

Australia were seriously worried about the form of their new-find Hughes and they did what everyone expected them to do — drop the young left-hander for the crucial third encounter against England in the ongoing Ashes 2009. This meant that Watson who has limited experience opening the innings and that too only in the ODIs was promoted at the top of the order. To the surprise of many folks, he didn’t look as out of place as it was imagined. He drove with a lot of confidence and barring a few rash attempted slashes outside the off-stump, Watson was like your regular test opener. He pounced upon the lose deliveries and looked equally good against the short ball, something that was bothering Hughes with Flintoff & Co. continuously digging the ball and making it rise under his helmet.

Nearly every cricket fan in England, even those who consider soccer their religion has his eyes fixed on the third test match of the historic Australia-England rivalry and it seems that all roads in are leading to Edgbaston. For starters, this is not a traditional venue for hosting Ashes test matches and this trend started only recently. Secondly, the pitch conditions could severely affect the chances of the side batting first. In fact, some local cricket experts here are so sure about the ball swinging during the first morning that they have bought tickets only for half the day for the opening morning’s session. The reason — they believe that if England are put into bat first, they will not survive for more than 40 overs or so, notwithstanding the fact that there is McGrath or even Brett Lee or for that matter, even Mitchell Johnson is hopelessly out-of-form. This combined with the ongoing debate over Flintoff’s decision to hiatus from test cricket and Andrew Strauss’s request that he should be consulted before English players are leased for the IPL are making things only more interesting.

The third, and in a large way the deciding, test match of the series is upon England and Australia. Both the teams are struggling to find the right combination for this crucial encounter. Australia realizes that a draw or a loss here would put them beyond the realm of having a reasonable chance to retain the coveted Ashes. For England, the problem has been compounded by the health of KP. I don’t say injury because it is more of a mental thing affecting his physical conditioning, right now. In all probability, Ian Bell would have to replace him and though Bell does look, like a good test match batsman, he doesn’t have half the flair that KP does. However, more than flair, what England wants right now is someone at Pietersen’s place to score runs, to strengthen the middle order. Australia on the other hand is facing problems with its openers. An interesting proposition has come up in the form of Watson who has opened the batting in the one-dayers and is a very useful bowler. Given Hughes susceptibility to the bouncing ball, Watson may walk into his boots.

The third test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan is underway and unless there are some serious batting heroics from the Lankan side, Pakistan should win this one comfortably and make it 2-1 for the series. In the hindsight, Pakistan might feel that they have done a mistake by not playing Kaneria earlier. For that matter, Afridi too could have been a handful on these spinning tracks. It was good to see Kaneria back in action and among the wickets. Shoaib Malik has found form after an eternity and his batting should add more strength to the middle order that has already been boosted by the return of Mohammed Yousuf. Yes, Pakistan has lost this test match series but given the circumstances under which they are playing they have more gains than losses from it. This series should gel together an almost split side and get them ready for international cricket in the coming months.

Some folks may say that the turnaround in the second innings of the ongoing Ashes test match has been largely due to the efforts of Michael Clarke. I do agree with it but it has to be noticed that Clarke benefited from some very sub-standard fielding placements by the England captain, Andrew Strauss. The way the approached the game even after Australia had lost five wickets and had Haddin new at the crease was just too strange. Can you understand why he had just two and for a small interval just one slip when Australia were under the hammer? That is what Haddin was looking for — an opportunity to get settled and once he grew in confidence, he lent admirable support to Clarke who was already looking a bit menacing. There is nothing to take away from Clarke and Haddin’s efforts — they both played some very fine shots and were brave on the frontfoot, driving with absolute confidence but this confidence was pumped-up to a large extent by Strauss’ poor decisions.