CricDigs Blogs

What is common among these players? As per what they do on the field, pretty much nothing. Zaheer is a full-time bowler, Ganguly a batsman, Pathan an all-rounder (or at least bowler who can bat a fair bit), Sehwag, a dasher of a batsman.

Then what ties them together? Well, I believe they represent a change in Indian Cricket selection process. This group is an example of players who were dropped due their poor or very-poor performances and then bounced back into the team and performed well.

- Zaheer was totally ineffective and was always struggling with injuries at some point and then was dropped. He has come back ever so strongly, helping India with excellent performances (SA, England, WI).

- No matter how much we criticize Greg Chappell for going after Ganguly and India’s debacle in WC’07, even Ganguly has admitted that being dropped from the side (for being totally out of form for a long long time) helped him focus on the game more and come back strongly.

- Pathan is the same story. After arriving on the international stage and doing so well in the India’s last tour down-under (2003), he lost his game in 2006 and was dropped (how did he lose his game is one of those mysteries in Cricket). As we all know now, he has come back so strongly having his swing back and batting beautifully as well.

Now about Sehwag, it might be a bit premature to say that he has “come-back”, but from his attitude at the crease and body language it looks quite promising. He contributed significantly in India’s famous win in Perth, both with bat and ball.

Well, Zaheer is injured right now and done for the current series (which is how Pathan got his playing time in the first place ), but the other 3 have a great opportunity to play well and help India level the series. That will absolutely be the best moment in Indian Cricket history!!

So is the formula for keeping players on their toes and get them to perform well is to “drop-fightback-select-perform”?

Its been an action packed week, and there has been no shortage of any high intensity news. Ponting and team have for once realised that Winning matches isn’t always a pleasure. I wonder what might have happened if India had managed to draw this test match. I am pretty sure, things would not have been so worse for Aussies if the match had ended in a draw. Anyways its done and over and lets focus on the third test that kick starts in less than a weeks time.

Its gonna be a typical Perth pitch, and Australlians would love to shut their critics with a thumping victory and Indian’s would love to beat the Aussies. This pitch is for sure gonna have good bounce and both the teams have well equipped bowlers to do the trick with the new ball. Ofcourse Zaheer is a big loss to India, but nothing could be done about that. I personall feel, team India should make some dynamic changes and try out how luck favours them. My playing XI for the third test is,

1) Virendher Sehwag
2) Wasim Jaffer (Good knock in the Canberra practise match)
3) Rahul Dravid (his favorite batting position)
4) Sachin Tendulkar
5) Saurav Ganguly
6) Laxman
7) Dhoni (in form or out of form, always a better player than Karthick)
8) Pathan
9) Kumble
10) RP Singh
11) Ishanth Sharma (no options open)

Cos’ its the Perth pitch, three fast bowlers are mandatory. RP & Pathan form the backbone, and i certainly have no clue but have no choice either but to pick up Ishanth. Well if Bhajji is given the go ahead to play on, then i think Bhajji can replace Ishanth. Ishanth maybe a fast bowler, but he showed absolutely no signs of picking a wicket. Anyways its a debatable decision. Ganguly ofcourse can bowl some seamers and assist the bowling balance.

Yuvaraj doesn’t finds a place in my XI, cos’ he’s terribly out of sorts and lets not risk it anymore gambling with him. The advantage of taking Sehwag is not just to play attacking cricket, but also to allow Rahul to bat at his premiere batting spot. This gives more balance to the team, and Irfan is no less a batsman. This looks the team that can probably challenge the Aussies. Ishanth Sharma is still not in my XI, but i may have no choice but to pick him

What do you guys feel about my XI for the third test ? What changes do you think should be made ? Do we have a chance of winning ? Well i certainly feel, there’s absolutely no chance India can win, but still i will give India a 10% chance to win this match. Good luck

The action starts again tomorrow after a break of less than a week. The Indian team has changed quite a bit from it’s Test squad with Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble, Jafar & Zaheer/VRV going back to India and players like Raina, Rohit Sharma, Uthappa, Praveen Kumar, Sreesanth & Piyush Chawla & more joining the team.

As has been in the recent past, it will be interesting to see India’s playing 11 from the T20 and first ODI. Will Sachin play in the T20 or will it be Sehwag and Gambhir opening?

Let me have a go at the possible playing 11 for the T20 @ MCG tomorrow. The following 10 players are certain (assuming of course that they are fit)

Gambhir, Sehwag, Uthappa, Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma, Dhoni, Pathan, Bhajji, RP Singh, Sreesanth

Who will take the 11th spot?

Sachin? Raina? Dinesh Karthik? or Praveen Kumar?

It will be interesting to see….

What an unbelievable series!! I am sure many would argue that 2001 or 2003 was better, but the current one had a great element of “fighting” spirit shown by both the teams. Like the 2001 series in India, it included an end to a long winning streak and had so many ups and downs that even a roller-coaster would feel like a smooth ride.

The Boxing day test match started with India dominating with the ball straight away. I am sure RP would remember his delivery that cleaned up Ponting so beautifully. India managed to bowl out Australia for 340 odd but could not capitalize and ended up losing the test. It seemed as if the series was decided right then and there. Interestingly, so much has happened after the MCG Test that it seems as if it happened ages ago.

In the Second Test at SCG, the Indian bowlers destroyed the Australian top order and if Umpire Bucknor did not spare Symonds because of a terrible terrible decision, Australians might have been bowled out for under 250. Instead they went on to make 460+. Indians responded strongly riding on centuries by Sachin and Laxman and some rear-guard action by Bhajji. Australians batted superbly in the second innings in spin friendly conditions, with Hussey and Hayden hitting centuries. A target of 333 was set for India with no real chance to make that. As it happens mostly in cricket, when the most a batsman is playing for is a draw, it almost always leads to his demise. Needless to say Umpire Bucknor played a great part in this as well with a terrible terrible decision to judge Dravid caught behind and then Ganguly was given out after consultation with the fielder and field-side captain (Pointing). When it looked as if India was going to save the test, incredible chain events handed India it’s second loss within the last 5 minutes of close of play. To add insult to injury, the Australian pressed “racial” charges against Bhajji for allegedly calling Symonds a “monkey”.

So, India was down 2-0 in the series heading into Perth where it was expected to get crushed by the Aussies. Riding high the Australians chose to go with 4-men pace attack with Shaun Tait firing at 150ks. India on the other hand suffered a setback with an injury to Zaheer and decided to give chance to Sehwag, Pathan and Ishant in the in-between tour match.

India’s fortunes changed in Canberra. Sehwag hit a 70 ball hundred. Ishant bowled beautifully. So, they were both included in the playing 11 with Pathan. Yuvraj, Zaheer and Bhajji were dropped. Umpire Bucknor was also sent packing after a very incompetent performance in SCG. After winning the toss, India chose to bat (a courageous decision) and scored 330 with Sachin and Dravid getting into a very valuable partnership. As if that was not enough, it dismissed Australia in meager 212 and gained a lead of 118 in the first innings. Second innings saw Laxman again playing a great knock against his favorite rivals and pushed India’s lead to 400+. The mighty Australians were still the favorites to win, but Pathan knocked off the openers again and what happened after that is History.

Winning in Perth charged up the Indians and they went into Adelaide with an opportunity to level the series. Pathan, who was adjudged Man-of-the-match in Perth was sent to open the batting for India and Bhajji was included instead of completely ineffective Jafar. Both the teams piled on runs in first innings, with nothing much separating them. Sachin hit his 39 century and Ponting manged to over-come his poor form against the Indians. Hayden celebrated his return from injury with a splendid hundred and it was left to the 5th day for delivering some more drama. As there was not much time left for India to force a win, it looked as if the match would follow the same path as SCG, but Sehwag hammered a magnificent hundred to ensure a very respectable draw for India. So this very very eventful series ended in favor of the Australians 2-1.

As if all this drama was not enough, Adam Gilchrist announced his retirement on the 3rd day and added more emotions to an already passionate series. Sachin ended up with highest aggregate (493) for the series with 2 centuries (breaking his 2007 jinx of the 90s). Bret Lee was declared Man Of The Series. India managed to climb up to the #2 spot in ICC Test Rankings.

Phew!! Best of all, all this happened in a span of just about a Month and 2 days. Unbelievable, right? BTW, this was just the first Act of this encounter with CB ODI series and T20 match to follow over next month.

And we all know that he totally deserves every bit of it. Not just because he is an amazing Cricketer, but a great diplomat for India. In his unbelievable and continuing career of almost 2 decades, he has always managed to keep his feet on the ground and eyes on the horizon. He has conquered almost all Cricketing records and still managed to keep his freshness about the game intact.

Congratulations to the Master Blaster from the CricDigs community.

If Cricket Was A Religion Then Sachin Tendulkar Would Be It’s Ultimate God!!

Whatever may be the result of the fourth test being played in Adelaide between India and Australia, it will always be remembered as Adam Gilchrist’s last test match. A once in a life time phenomenon, I once stood in long queues outside Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium , just to catch a glimpse of him. While with other greats you can always use sentences such as ‘arguably the best batsman’ or ‘probably the best bowler’ , but with Adam Gilchrist there is not even an iota of doubt that he is the ‘greatest’ wicketkeeper - batsman ever. More than that he is one of the greatest cricketers to have played the game , in the true sense of the word. Having played in the strong Australian batting line up, it is amazing that he has scored 17 centuries because it is only rarely that he gets to bat a long time. What this also shows is his ability to counter attack and fight, a quality which some of our superstars can learn from him. Never one to care for statistics, he has regaled crowds the world over with his swashbuckling batting. Let us all wish him a happy retired life.

Before anything else, lets congratulate Sachin Tendulkar for having won the Padma Vibushan Award. He’s just been a fantastic player for India and deserves every bit of it

Sachin’s mindboggling innings was what enabled India amass such a formiddable total on the board. Ofcourse Kumble’s & Bhajji’s cameo knocks came in very handful. 526 on the board, and any one would fancy an Indian victory. Aussie’s we know will never give it up without a fight. They ended day two with all 10 wickets in hand. Today was the day that really mattered for India. But wasn’t to be!!. The bowler’s bowled their heart out in search of some wickets, but the Australlian’s were equal to the task. Ishanth Sharma to me was the pick of the lot. He gave it everything and did the ball do the talking. Mathew Hayden has for long been a thorn on Indian Cricket Team’s flesh, and he proved to be a thorn again. This lad, has scored three centuries in three test matches he’s played, and the rest is for the world to know how good a player he is. It was Haydo’s innings that gave the Aussies the impetus to stage a fight back. Ponting struggled all the way through, but what mattered most is whether he could survive the storm and he did it in great style. It was a very calculative and well planned innings by the captain. Australlia at stumps were 200 days behind the Indian total.

Day four holds the key now. Australlian’s would definitely not want to bat the fourth innings. So their plans would be to score some quick runs tomorrow and probably get in a 150+ lead by end of day tomorrow. Especially with the inform Symonds and Gilchrist to come quick runs can never be ruled out. If Australlia manages a 150+ lead, then we are in for a real contest guys

On the other hand, if India can pick up some early wickets tomorrow with the new ball, things will definitely turn India’s way. One wicket could lead to other and all the way through. If India can manage to take a 150+ lead in the first innings and quickly bat tomorrow and score a 150+ and set Aussies a 300+ target on the final day to chase. I’m sure we wil have a contest heavily in favour of an Indian victory.

Hence the victory is within grabs for both the team.The question is who is gonna capitalize and make the most of it. For now the match is evenly poised. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s action !! What do u guys say ?

India and Australia are going to play the fourth (4th) test of the series from 24 January 2008. India won the 3rd Test Match at Perth. So, the Indian players are in high spirits and have to work very hard to level the series by winning this match. On the other hand, Australian players would love to win the match. They would love to win the series by 3-1.
The match will start on Thursday 24 January 2008. The only bad part is that the match will start very early Indian time (04:30 AM). Australia vs India 4th test match will take place in Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia. More details at http://www.cricketpulse.com/news/IndiaAustraliaSeriesT4P.asp

When the current India Australia series started, per the ICC player rankings, Ponting was the #1 batsman in both forms of Cricket. Now he has slipped down to #4 in Test Rankings

That in itself is a great achievement for the visitors. Ponting has always tormented the Indians and we were expecting he reducing the gap between him and Sachin in the # of centuries scored. India has managed to keep him very quiet in this series and hope that the trend continues. I am sure Ponting is etching to break out and score a big one, but that in itself could be India’s biggest chance to knock him over early.

The big question in team selection is whether Bhajji would come in in-place of a batsman (Jafar) and would the team ask Dravid or Pathan to open. Everyone is talking about Bhajji and Ponting contest etc, but I think India has to surprise Ponting with different things and not just rely on Bhajji getting better of him. It worked superbly for India when Ishant troubled The Punter in Perth and got his wicket in both the innings. That is what you need to keep a great batsman in check.

India has been able to do that so far. Can they pull that off in the remaining 2 innings? That could be the biggest factor in it’s quest for a series equalizing win.

We have heard a few commentators and some of the bloggers talk about change(s) India might/should do their team configuration going into Adelaide. One most talked about scenario/change is to drop Jafar and bring in Bhajji. Dravid would then be asked again to open, but this time with Sehwag. This will give India a 5 specialist bowlers attack. Should that be done?

One benefit because of this change (in addition to having 5 bowlers) would be that Laxman would move up to #3. Everyone has been saying that he belongs there, especially in Australia. One negative would be that Dravid would be “forced” to open. As we know Dravid played a very important knock of 93 (which was the highest individual score in Perth) at a very crucial time and added 140ish for the third wicket with Sachin. Asking him to open again might negate the momentum and confidence he might have gained because of that innings.

So, instead of changing the winning combination, should India go with the same team and hope that law of averages finally catches up with Jafar and he comes up with a big score. The 5th bowler spot can then be filled with a combination of Ganguly, Sehwag and Sachin.

Makes sense?