Blogs Find for India ?
March 7th, 2008 by marauderThis series has turned down tables big time for India. Indian cricket team has for long carried on with player’s reputation. At one stage there looked noway an youngster could imagine anything more than supplying drinks on the field. Its fantastic to see the way the Indian Cricketing Board has turned now. Don’t really know what happened to them, whatever be it, things have begun to happen for India. Persisting with youngsters is always a risk, the board was brave enough to take the risk, and its paid off really big time. This Indian team is blend with an energetic lot, who would do anything to make their team to win.
Dropping Ganguly and Dravid really seemed ridiculously insane at the start of the ODI series. But now one realises, what such risky decisions can turn out to be. India has managed to win a series down under after almost two decades. The simple reason is the attacking cricket by the Indian players and definitely the Australlian slump in form 
The finds for India this series will clearly have to be Ishanth Sharma for his ability to threaten batsmen’s with fiery spells, Dhoni as a captain, Gautam Ghambir to steady the ship, Elegant Rohit Sharma, In form Pathan. Yuvaraj did show glimpses of form in the latter part of the series, but was noway near his best. Praveen Kumar to me was really impressive. Its gonna be a real big challenge to him to keep up his form. Its obvious that the other teams by now shud’ve worked him out, and the challenge upfront is to keep doing what he did in Australlia.
This Indian team to me looks really good now. Can challenge any team i believe. The flops of this series for India are Sehwag, Yuvaraj, SreeShanth, Harbhajan Singh(only exception was the first finals). It will be great if Harbhajan Singh shuts his mouth and deeds, and make the ball do the talking. Currently for him the ball is not talking, and he’s bowling at his worst. Its time he shuts his mouth, and do something credible with the ball 
March 7th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Harbhajan should shut his mouth against Australia? NO WAY! I don’t think you understand that a significant reason the Aussies lost the CB series (apart from great cricket by Indians and poor form of the Aussies) is the way Harbhajan and a few other Indians got under their skin. Bhajji has done to Australia exactly what the Aussies have been doing to teams all over the world for the past many years. He gave them a dose of their own medicine, and the medicine worked like a fantastic poison!!! Ponting himself accepted that the off-field controversies were taking a toll on him.
And Harbhajan NEVER initiated any of the controversies. Right from the Sydney test, when Symonds instigated him to say what he said (no one knows what he said) to the final controversy of Bhajji scratching and spitting (what does one do when one feels itchy?) which was initiated by the Aussie media in one last attempt at destabilizing the Indians, he has NEVER initiated any controversy. Yes, but he is the sorta guy who gives back what he gets… sometimes with installment!
Yes, Bhajji’s deliveries should do most of the talking, but against Australia, anything goes! And his deliveries did talk when they had to… he might have only 8 wickets in the entire series, but wouldn’t you trade all the wickets in a series to the wickets of Hayden and Symonds in both the finals (yes, one of them was a run out effected by him). In both matches, their partnership was taking the game away from the Indians, and in both matches, he took both their wickets. And the way he got under their skin, it is truly amazing and a significant reason India are victorious today. I would hate to see him shut his mouth against the Aussies.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
For some reason, I am not a big Harbhajan fan. I was not very impressed with his remarks (at least as quoted in some news reports) that the just concluded series was like Harbhajan versus Australia. Not true by a long way. I would not mind calling it Ishant v/s Australia or Sachin v/s Australia or Dhoni v/s Australia, but despite all the aggression etc, I would not call it Bhajji v/s Australia. To be quite honest, the reason India was successful to this extent was simply because they played as a team and not as individuals. Even when Bhajji was involved in that “Racial Remarks” issue, the entire team stood by him. Without all that support Harbhajan would not have been able to do what he did. Both in the Tests and CB series, India played as a unit and did not gave in to the Australian pressure tacticts.
It is true that Harbhajan showed courage in not losing focus despite the Aussie crowd and players’ reactions towards him, but I would not call him the primary reason for India’s success. It is impossible to single out any player or players in this case, but if we have to then I would say they are Ishant Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Praveen Kumar.
March 8th, 2008 at 1:49 am
Harbhajan is basking in the glory of media hype. It happens when you are not in the best of forms and want to be in the limelight for some time. But, the important thing is, he should realize that he is not in the best of forms and he needs to improve his bowling. If he does that, it’s good for him and good for the team.
And Prashant, I’d add one Mr. Gautam Gambhir to the list of players you’ve mentioned. He did a fabulous job and he is one youngster who likes to play his heart out. It was evident in the way he talked after the series win. While he was happy for the victory, he was equally disappointed that he couldn’t contribute toward the victory. It was all written along his face. Such a humble, hard-working, dedicated man.
March 8th, 2008 at 8:08 am
I shouldn’t have missed Gambhir’s name from that list. He was almost the Man of the Series. He has improved quite a bit (since playing T20 I think) and should turn out to be a very good #3 for India’s ODI team.
March 8th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Harbhajan Singh is by no means the reason why India won this ODI series, but he definitely is one main reason why India lost the test series. Well if he calls himselves the best, why wasn’t he able to take atleast one 5 wicket haul in the long test series ?
There’s absolutely no doubt he’s not performing as well as he thinks he is. Well one thing for sure is, he cannot persist long with this talks, only his bowling can take him through. I’m afraid he’s not too keen on doing what is actually best for him to do
March 10th, 2008 at 2:34 am
No player can claim that it was him vs. the rest entire opposition team. Harbhajan might have said this in the context of sledging that it was him vs. Australia.
@Jatan, I agree with you fully. Harbhajan shouldn’t keep quiet. He should give back good to the Australians both with ball and with the finger.
@Marauder, please take note that in a team effort Harbhajan contributed well in the second final match. You are right when you say that he should raise his performance, because he never gave one like Gautam Gambhir did with the bat and Ishant Sharm a or Praveen Kumar did with the ball. But despite the constant tauntings from Symonds & Co. he did play well.
March 11th, 2008 at 1:33 am
@Marauder Harbhajan is not definitely the reason behind India losing the test series, though he was not among the wickets, he contributed with the bat lower down the order in two three innings. The taunting of Harbhajan by australian media inspired indians ,and they went on to win the third test and forced the mighty aussies to play for a draw in the fourth test.
March 11th, 2008 at 5:59 am
I wasn’t saying that India won the CB series only because of Harbhajan’s antics. What I am saying is, the verbal retaliation that India did was a significant part of India winning the series… and Harbhajan was a big part of it. India won the CB series because they played better than Australia AND they sledged better than Australia, both on and off the field. Indians gave Aussies a dose of their own medicine, and they couldn’t take it.
Of course, Bhajji should have gotten more wickets in tests, but he is definitely not the reason why India lost the test series. According to me, the biggest reason why India lost the test series was because of Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson. I do not want to debate this fact coz we have already debated it quite a lot earlier
As for the comment about it being a Harbhajan Vs. Australia series, everyone knows it obviously wasn’t. It was just another jibe from Harbhajan against the Aussie team, with a deliberate intention of putting salt on the wound. And it worked! I am just sad that we all are missing the point!
Have a look at Bhajji in the forthcoming India - SA series. He will be quiet and play just like any other player… unless of course he is aroused
March 21st, 2008 at 4:29 am
Verbal retaliation alone doesnt wins u matches buddy…The verbal retaliation did setback the Aussies, but for god sake dont say that was what won India the matches. Well if thats true, why do u need players, you can very well hire some retaliators in villages who can do much better than that
March 21st, 2008 at 4:31 am
Who cares if Bhajji is quiet or arrogant ? What matters is whether he performs or not , and not whether he barks or not..did u get that my friend ? He can hold his place in the team if he performs, and not if he verbally retaliates….So its time he performs in the coming series atleast. Im sure he ll not, cos hes not as gud a bowler he thinks or u think he izz
March 24th, 2008 at 9:27 am
You are AGAIN missing the point Mr. Marauder. I did not say Verbal retaliation ‘alone’ wins a team a match. That ‘alone’ word is your imagination. I am saying that the verbal retaliation played a significant part in the victory. It not only put Aussies on a back foot, but also made india more confident. Indian bowling, spectacular batting by gambhir in the series and tendulkar in the finals also were significant factors.
As for your second comment, the question here is not about caring whether Bhajji retaliates or not. I also do not like his bowling much, and I wouldnt care if he stays in the team or not. What I was saying was that he definitely was not the reason India lost the test series. And as you said, he will hold his place in the team only if he performs. But I TOTALLY support his behaviour in Australia.