CricDigs Blogs

This tri-series begun with a bang. Though India managed a mere 194 in 45 overs, with the constant rain interrupts and ofcourse the Indian bowler’s firesome spell that really got Australlia staggering with 3 wickets down. It could’ve been anyone’s game. Having said that, the match eventually got abandoned and Australlia will have to consider themselves unlucky to have not just lost 4 points but to have shared 2 points with India. These 2 points might turn out to be very crucial during the finishing stages of this series.

The second match against Srilanka looked to be a very promising one. The weather was exceptionally good during India’s first innings. Tendulkar and Sehwag played well, Srilankan’s did comeback really well to pigback 4 wickets in quick succession. Then it was time to sit back and enjoy the fantastic batting display by this young lad Gautham Gambhir and it was really nice to see the Captain coming to the fore 267 was a very competent total, but unfortunately weather godhad interrupted again and Srilankan’s never were given an opportunity to bat on The points were shared by both the teams. If the rain had stayed away, and Srilanka did chase on this target, i believe it would have been a nice contest. Anyways India should consider themselves unlucky to have lost on 4 points now . Srilankan’s havent had much of a batting practise in Australlia, and this is simply the only reason which gives India the edge once they had put on 267 on the board

Lets hope the rest of the matches are played, and we getta see a fair contest

They are all talking about it. From the gullies of Mumbai to the “G” in Melbourne, Australia. The player auction that happened yesterday and how all that money that some of the players commanded and how some of the top players were acquired as a bargain (if you call $300,000 a bargain).

How successful will this venture be? There has already been talk about synchronizing the IPL schedule with ICC schedule so that more and more players can play in most of the IPL tournament. The T20 World Cup success has already shown that the shortest version of Cricket does demand a lot of skills and planning and provides a ton of entertainment for the spectators. Adding all these lucrative contracts to this mix has only made IPL an instant talk of the World Of Cricket. About a year ago I had written a blog about Major League Cricket and whether it will be a reality. Now that IPL and ICL are all set where would we be a year from now?

Who would India’s next Cricketing Superstar be? Andrew Symonds?

It was a Pathetic Show by T20 World Champs India in Today’s match. I just cannot believe how the World Champs play so pathetically. It was clear the moment Sehwag was runout that we will have a total downfall and it happened as expected. Indians never want to play with their reputation. It was all started from the selection of playing eleven.

Why Sachin was not in eleven when he is doing so well.

How Yuvi can get injured before such an Important Match?( against the backdrop of events happening last 15 days about Bhaji).

Was this match considered as Practice match for those who joined the team recently, if so, we should have declared that before hand and we spectators would not have watched the match at all.

As i have mentioned earlier Dhoni is loosing his Property”Successful Hard Hitter” and if he continues like that he is going to be liability for the team and some other good wicket keeper Batsmen like Parthiv Patel will never get a chance.

Some young Players like Uthapa,Gambhir,Sharma,even Pravin kumar were playing the game without any match practice in Australia in T20 Tournament. It would have been allright in ODI where players get some time to settle and know about the pitch.It is not the case with T20 Format. Are our Young Players “Super Youngmen”.

our players unnecessarily threw their wickets while playing in hurry, WHY?

We should have Kept Ganguly, Laxman and played Sachin for this game.

Dhoni should have chosen fielding first to make new players accustom to new playing conditions and behaviour of the pitch. In that case result would not have been that pathetic.

It was the result of sheer poor thinking in the Team Management and over confidence in the young players and removing of experienced players on their Fittness.

Apparently, Indian cricket fans are seething with rage over the comments made by Matt Hayden on Harbhajan Singh. But the problem, as it’s always been with Indian media, is biased, sensationalized reporting to make sure fans don’t see the other side of the coin. I actually sat down to write an article on this issue, but then came across this one by Mr. Jha. I don’t think I could have put it more succinctly than he did. So, dear Indian cricket fans, I urge all of you to take a look at this.

http://www.cricketnext.com/blogs/sanjayjha/652/50378/the-shilpa-shetty-effect.html

Words are not enough to describe this man, but people like me still keep writing In addition to all the other accolades, Sachin also must be the player who has been written off most number of times by his critics (who are those people ) and has proven them wrong every single time.

Despite playing for all these many years (decades?) he still comes out to bat and field with the same level of enthuse as any new comer and keep amazing all the cricketing fan around the world. It was really awesome listening to all the Channel 9 commentators describing his elegance and class and seeing all the standing ovations Sachin got when he walked out to bat (even before scoring a single run). So much admiration and support. It is quite unbelievable and beyond.

Despite all these changes made to the Indian ODI team with those young players and energy, no one can even think of replacing him. It is not because he has some sort of pull or uses his clout, but because he fits in that scheme as well. As he had said after the WC loss and at times when there was a lot of talk about getting all the young players, that he would like the selection to be objective and based on form and performance only. If you follow that logic then he is still India’s best batsman by a long margin. VVS could be considered a close rival in that regards for Tests, but VVS generally performs that good only against Australia in Australia (go figure that).

So though I can keep writing pages and pages about why I worship Sachin ( I really do), I will stop for now with a quick note that Sachin just completed 16000 runs in ODIs with an average of 44+ and strike rate of 85+, with 41 Centuries and double the number of 50s. These numbers are totally unreal for any player to put together……

If Cricket Is My Religion Then Sachin Is My Ultimate God!!

The main question is whether to choose 4 bowlers or 5? The other way of looking at it would be 7 batsmen or 8 (Pathan would count as both a bowler and a batsman)?

In the bowling department Ishant Sharma, Pathan and Praveen Kumar (after being MoM in the last match) are certain and if Sehwag is to be selected then who would be out? Uthappa?

Should India leave out Bhajji? so bring in Sehwag instead of Bhajji and Sreesanth in place of Munaf. ?? I am not terribly impressed with Bhajji’s bowling, especially in ODIs. He does not look like as if he is going to get any wickets. So if his job is just to contain then Sehwag might be able to do that job.

So my take for the playing 11 is either

Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Munaf (Sreesanth), Bhajji

OR

Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Uthappa, Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Sreesanth (Munaf)

Two very important yardsticks - past record and present performance - are not in their favour. But the Indians obviously feel that they have a realistic chance of putting it across the Aussies in the best-of-three finals of the CB tri-series that commences on Sunday. The belief in the Indian camp is that things are falling into place highlighted by Sachin Tendulkar’s return to form. More details at http://www.cricreporter.com/news/CBSeriesFinal1.asp

Despite losing to Australia twice in a row in the league phase, India are confident they have the advantage going into the CB Series finals. Much of that confidence comes from their two victories in the last three games, both against Sri Lanka, and their fight against Australia despite losing to them. India and Australia are going to play their 1st (First) Final of the Commonwealth Bank Tri Series 2008 on 2nd March 2008. The match will start at 08:45 IST. India vs Australia 1st final match will take place at Sydney, Australia. More details at http://www.cricketpulse.com/news/IndiaAustraliaCBSeriesF1.asp

ICC wake up! What is going on in International Cricket? The Cricket Champions are going on record and saying things like this to their visitors? Wow, this is first class cricket for you and did I hear anyone say that Australia and Australians are good hosts? They were the ones complaining about the Indian fans when they were visiting us not too long ago. Are they really scared that Indians are walking their walk and talking their talk? Looks like they can’t handle defeats like most champions can’t and it is actually quite amusing to see them being frustrated and helpless for once! What do you’ll think?

Harbhajan an ‘obnoxious weed’ - Hayden
Hayden reprimanded for ‘weed’ comment

Confused with the title? I am talking about two players who keep going in and out of the Indian team every time you blink. It’s Munaf Patel and Sreesanth. They both have a lot of potential and talent (so they all say), but are totally different from one another in one fundamental aspect. Sreesanth is all hyper and trying to do a million things whereas Munaf comes across as indifferent and laid-back. Sreesanth has all these procedures that he has to follow before, during and after deliveries but Munaf barely looks awake.

During this CB Series Munaf and Sreesanth have been playing musical chair for their position in the playing 11. If I am not mistaken, Munaf has been chosen as part of a 5 bowler attack whereas Sreesanth was selected when there were 4. Not sure if that was just coincidental or planned. In any case, for either of these players to be successful consistently, they have to try to be like the other person. What I mean is, Munaf can use a little bit of Sreesanth’s “over”-enthusiasm and Sreesanth would benefit being a little “less” enthusiastic.

If these two do not get their act together, with all these new bowlers coming up, it would not be long before they will go from being in playing 11 to “Selected-Team” to “Fringe” to Oblivion.