SRT Fans Blog

2006-11-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

He has done it before - he had missed the trip on India. On that occasion too, he had flown back before the international matches had started. He knew very well that the team was in trouble, having lost Vaughan, Jones and Giles (though I don't consider Giles as any sort of threat, England certainly does).
Still he flew back. I had thought him selfish at that time, and was gleeful that one of our main threats were destined to be absent (it's another issue that we underperformed and drew the series 1-1).
He has repeated it now, in the series that England had promoted as their premium campaign. He's definitely not one of those who flinch from fast bowling or hostile sledging - he has withstood loads of it during his career. Scoring 5,000 test runs in 5 years is no joke.
It cannot, simply CANNOT be selfishness. No one would go ahead and lose his reputation in such a way. He's not a fool.
He's stressed, definitely, and mentally broken down to such an extent that he's risking his career, and he's turning away from the honour of representing his country in their most important battle.
We're on the verge of losing a batsman destined to play for several years for the simple sake of over-employing him. A few of us might jeer at him, but I'm sure the jeer shall not sound as prominent as the victims increase in count...

The Best Of Dhoni

2006-04-10T23:13:00.000-07:00

The best part of Dhoni according to me is not his average wicket-keeping or his audacious strokeplay or his great ability to chase down mammoth asks with ease or even his new found adaptability.

The best part of Mahendra Singh Dhoni is his attitude to the game which is symbolised by the smile he always sports even when sharing the success of his teammates as was evident when he took the men of the matches for a ride (literally, not figuratively).

In fact this attitude of Dhoni is shared by almost all young members of this Indian side. Irfan Pathan, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan and others - they all seem to thrive in each other's success and really seem to be enjoying themselves. This is quite a change even from the immediately preceding generation - we all know what great cricketers and human beings Sachin, Rahul, Srinath, Kumble, Laxman are and how sincerely they played the game with great passion but somehow this freewheeling attitude is a thing of this new generation. And Indian cricket is the better for it.

That is what makes me fully sympathetic towards Sehwag and Kaif and no matter how many chances they are given I feel they deserve them because they are team-men to the core, through and through. Not a long time ago they were piling on the runs when someone like Yuvraj was going through a lean trot and now the situation has been reversed. Maybe it will reverse again some time in the future. But that important thing is the team work. When one guy is out of form the other contributes and compensates for him and vice-versa.

Originally posted on Outside Edge.

The unwanted habit

2006-03-23T21:33:00.000-08:00

How often have seen the Indian team collapse in the 4th innings and suffer brutal thrashings? While, we came to expect it from our team overseas, at home we were the Final Frontier for all.
there was a time over the last 10-15 years, when beating Pakistan in Pakistan was easier than beating us.
Let us have a look at the series we have played in the last 16 years. Coincidentally, we have had 4 captains since then.
I will give the year, opponent, scoreline, captain and the test-by-test scoreline in the following list.
Disclaimer - This is not to target any certain captain (as it is quite possible to get misinterpreted by some people)

1989/90 NZ 0-2-1 Azharuddin 0-0-1 0-1-1 0-2-1 A
1990 E 0-2-1 Azharuddin 0-0-1 0-1-1 0-2-1 A
1990/91 SL 1-0-0 Azharuddin 1-0-0
1991/92 A 0-1-4 Azharuddin 0-0-1 0-0-2 0-1-2 0-1-3 0-1-4 A
1992/93 Z 0-1-0 Azharuddin 0-1-0 A
1992/93 SA 0-3-1 Azharuddin 0-1-0 0-2-0 0-2-1 0-3-1 A
1992/93 E 3-0-0 Azharuddin 1-0-0 2-0-0 3-0-0
1992/93 Z 1-0-0 Azharuddin 1-0-0
1993 SL 1-2-0 Azharuddin 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-2-0 A
1993/94 NZ 0-1-0 Azharuddin 0-1-0 A
1993/94 SL 3-0-0 Azharuddin 1-0-0 2-0-0 3-0-0
1994/95 WI 1-1-1 Azharuddin 1-0-0 1-1-0 1-1-1
1995/96 NZ 1-2-0 Azharuddin 1-0-0 1-1-0 1-2-0
1996 E 0-2-1 Azharuddin 0-0-1 0-1-1 0-2-1 A
1996/97 A 1-0-0 Tendulkar 1-0-0
1996/97 SA 2-0-1 Tendulkar 1-0-0 1-0-1 2-0-1
1996/97 SA 0-1-2 Tendulkar 0-0-1 0-0-2 0-1-2 A
1996/97 WI 0-4-1 Tendulkar 0-1-0 0-2-0 0-2-1 0-3-1 0-4-1 A
1997 SL 0-2-0 Tendulkar 0-1-0 0-2-0 A
1997/98 SL 0-3-0 Tendulkar 0-1-0 0-2-0 0-3-0
1997/98 A 2-0-1 Azharuddin 1-0-0 2-0-0 2-0-1
1998/99 Z 0-0-1 Azharuddin 0-0-1 A
1998/99 NZ 0-1-1 Azharuddin 0-0-1 0-1-1 A
1998/99 P 1-0-2 Azharuddin 0-0-1 1-0-1 1-0-2 (i have clubbed the 2 tests and ATC test)
1998/99 SL 0-1-0 Azharuddin 0-1-0 A
1999/00 NZ 1-2-0 Tendulkar 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-2-0
1999/00 A 0-0-3 Tendulkar 0-0-1 0-0-2 0-0-3 A
199/00 SA 0-0-2 Tendulkar 0-0-1 0-0-2
2000/01 Z 1-1-0 Ganguly 1-0-0 1-1-0
2000/01 A 2-0-1 Ganguly 0-0-1 1-0-1 2-0-1
2001 Z 1-0-1 Ganguly 1-0-0 1-0-1 A
2001 SL 1-0-2 Ganguly 0-0-1 1-0-1 1-0-2 A
2001/02 SA 0-1-1 Ganguly 0-0-1 0-1-1 A
2001/02 E 1-2-0 Ganguly 1-0-0 1-1-0 1-2-0
2001/02 Z 2-0-0 Ganguly 1-0-0 2-0-0
2001/02 WI 1-2-2 Ganguly 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-1-1 1-2-1 1-2-2 A
2002 E 1-2-1 Ganguly 0-0-1 0-1-1 1-1-1 1-2-1 A
2002/03 WI 2-1-0 Ganguly 1-0-0 2-0-0 2-1-0
2002/03 NZ 0-0-2 Ganguly 0-0-1 0-0-2 A
2003/04 NZ 0-2-0 Ganguly/Dravid 0-1-0 0-2-0
2003/04 A 1-2-1 Ganguly 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-1-1 1-2-1 A
2003/04 P 2-0-1 Ganguly/Dravid 1-0-0 1-0-1 2-0-1 A
2004/05 A 1-1-2 Ganguly/Dravid 0-0-1 0-1-1 0-1-2 1-1-2
2004/05 SA 1-1-0 Ganguly 0-1-0 1-1-0
2004/05 BD 2-0-0 Ganguly 1-0-0 2-0-0 A
2004/05 P 1-1-1 Ganguly 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-1-1
2005/06 Z 2-0-0 Ganguly 1-0-0 2-0-0 A
2005/06 SL 2-1-0 Dravid/Sehwag 0-1-0 1-1-0 2-1-0
2005/06 P 0-2-1 Dravid 0-1-0 0-2-0 0-2-1
2005/06 E 1-1-1 Dravid 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-1-1

against decent opposition we have failed to win the rubber.

of the 8 series played in the last 2 years, we have lost the series by losing the crucial game 4 times. v Pak 2, v A and E once. SA were beaten comfortably. SL are beated comfortably everyhwhere except in Toadland. BD/Z not worth the consideration.

the scores -

I v A - Nagpur -
LOST 342 runs.

Aus 398 & 329/5d
Ind 185 & 200

Yet another hopeless bowling display on Day 4, followed the usual caving in.

I v P - Bangalore -
LOST 168 runs.

Pak 570 & 261/2d
Ind 449 & 214

another inexplicable batting collapse.
87/0 to 214. thanks to Sehwag/Gambhir/Kumble we managed to get those. another pathetic bowling display on Day 4.
337/3 - Sehwag OUT(201). 449 all out (thanks to VVS 79*)

I v P - Karachi -
LOST by 341 runs.

Pak 245 & 599/7d
Ind 238 & 265

Pakistan recovers from 39/6 in 1st innings. Ind 65/4 and 74/4 in their two innings. hopeless bowling display on day 4.

I v E - Mumbai -
LOST by 212 runs

Eng 400 & 191
Ind 279 & 100

chasing 313, we collapse from 75/3 to 100 all out in little more than an hour.
horrendous batting display. equally shocking fielding.

what concerns me is the bowling on the 4th day. though in the Mumbai test we bowled better than the first innings and should have had England out for 100-110, had it not been for the guys eating lots of Butter Roti and Butter Chicken at TAJ.

jokes apart, look at the score of opposition in the 3rd innings. they have the audacity to declare their innings and go on to win.
261/2, 329/5, 599/7.

this needs to be rectified immediately, else we will keep getting into these situations.
missing from the list of losses are 2 matches - one where VVS made sure we drew the match againt Kiwis in 2003, and one against England 2001 where the weather saved us.

Dream Teams

2006-03-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting exercise. I try to come up with 4 different teams to play 5-day cricket consisting of current players only but these are not your usual World X1 teams - their selection criteria are quite different and hopefully, very interesting.

I have tried to keep the teams disjoint, so while some of the players might fit in more than one team I have put them in the team that they fit best in and put in other players more suited in the other team.

My first team will consist of cricketers who are not very elegant, not superstars nor have outstanding career records. Yet, they are tough fighters and you can bet they will fight every team you put up against them by sheer bloody-mindedness and determination. These are the ones who have often performed rescue acts, while letting others hog the limelight.

So here goes:
THE FIGHTERS
Justin Langer
Andrew Strauss
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain)
Paul Collingwood
Jacques Rudolph
Mohammad Kaif
Kamran Akmal
Abdul Razzaq
Ashley Giles
Rana Naved
Matthew Hoggard

My second team is the team of the most supremely gifted elegant players. These may not have career records as outstanding as some of their peers but have often delighted crowds with their fantastic artistic skills. Well this list also includes a couple of names (note fast bowlers, wicketkeepers) who may not conventionally make the list, but it is so much more difficult to talk of these in terms of art than just batsmen so I have allowed myself the luxury of including some cricketers with supreme skills in their field.
THE ARTISTS
Salman Butt
Marwan Atapattu (captain)
Yousouf Youhana
Mahela Jayawardene
VVS Laxman
Damien Martyn
Andrew Flintoff
Irfan Pathan
Tatenda Taibu (Difficult to classify a wicket-keeper batsman as an artist but whatever)
Shane Warne
Shane Bond

Now come the power merchants. They too do not rewrite the record books nor are they necessarily a delight to the eye. But they are great entertainers in their own right in that they can be brutal.
THE BRUTES
Virender Sehwag (captain)
Chris Gayle
Kevin Pietersen
Shahid Afridi
Andrew Symonds
Jacob Oram
Mahendra Dhoni
Brett Lee
Shoaib Akhtar
Steve Harmison (or Ntini ? Lost for a choice here)
Anil Kumble (as close to powerful as a spinner can get)

And now the World Beaters. The record holders. The prolific run scorers and wicket takers. The one with the greatest averages.
THE CHAMPIONS
Matthew Hayden
Rahul Dravid (captain, opener (SORRY) had to fit in 4 other players)
Ricky Ponting
Sachin Tendulkar
Brian Lara
Jacques Kallis
Adam Gilchrist
Shaun Pollock
Chaminda Vaas
Muttaiah Muralitharan
Glenn McGrath

Even after asking Dravid to open I still cannot accomodate Inzy !! Wow that's the only team that I faced a problem of plenty. Also I put Dravid ahead as captain over Ponting. Whew ! Eagerly awaiting your thoughts, suggestions, criticisms, better balance ideas ...

Originally posted on Outside Edge.

Ominous signs

2006-03-15T21:08:00.000-08:00

Australia 434/4 off 50 overs
Ricky Ponting 164 (105) 13x4 9x6
Michael Hussey 81 (51) 9x4 3x6
Simon Katich 79 (90) 9x4 1x6
Adam Gilchrist 55 (44) 9x4
Andrew Symonds 27* (13) 3x4 1x6

South Africa 438/9 off 49.5 overs
Herschelle Gibbs 175 (121) 21x4 7x6
Graeme Smith 90 (55) 13x4 2x6
Mark Boucher 50* (43) 4x4
Johan van der Wath 35 (18) 1x4 3x6

Cricketers, critics and fans from all over the world have said in unison that this is the greatest match of all time. But was it?

435 off 50 overs is a score for which any adjective is possibly an understatement. Words like "formidable" lose their meaning in front of such a number. You get the feeling of standing at the base of Everest, too intimidated to start climbing. And yet... two teams managed to do this on the same day.

Yes, this was an achievement - definitely something really unprecedented. But how good was this for cricket? Was this really the greatest match ever played?

Well, people from all over will tell you - this was a great match. 872 scored off 599 balls, 87 fours, 25 sixes - two 150+ scores, can it really get any bigger than this? There were a couple of outstanding performances from Ponting and Gibbs, arrogant strokes from Gilchrist and Symonds, calculated risks from Katich and Smith, the sheer delight of watching Hussey cut loose, the patient single-mindedness of Boucher and an unexpected onslaught from van der Wath. Ponting and Gibbs were simply brilliant, with dazzling strokeplay marking every over of their existence. They did whatever they wanted to do with the bat, and that too over non-negligible lengths of time.

Reads a sumptuous meal for the eye, right? If you think so, read the last paragraph again, more carefully this time.

Did you notice that this great match does not involve any achievement by bowlers?

They restricted their line, calling wides at obscenely low margins. They restricted their length, calling no-balls for bouncers, relaxing to one an over in the end. They restricted their spells to ten a match. They brought in heavy poly-armour bats and helmets, but said no to ball-tampering or chucking. They ironed the pitches. They brought the boundary ropes in. They restricted the fielding placements for fifteen overs, and then increased it to twenty. They took every possible measure to restrict the bowlers. And yet cricket was played, with people pouring in to watch flashy boundaries by tail-enders off genuine fast bowlers.

But now - it has reached to an extent of being unacceptable. We want to see the bowlers play a role as vital as the batsmen in this queen of games. We want to see stumps flying off inswigning yorkers, we want to see batsmen square up and caught behind off quality seam bowling, we want to see batsmen being bowled around their legs on vicious turners. We want to see tail-enders' feet moving meekly towards the square leg when an express bowler steams in.

Change the rules, guys. Let the grass grow on those tracks, let them crack before play starts. Put aside those restrictions on bouncers or field placements.

And oh yes, ban that ruddy helmet. If anything has ruined the pleasure of watching cricket, it has.

We need the changes, and we need them soon. Otherwise we might land up with teams comprising of eleven batsmen and a hi-tech bowling machine in near future.

Yet Another One - Post dedicated to Holding Gems!

2006-02-26T23:14:00.000-08:00

Ok guys,

As discussed, we are starting off with the Holding Gemz post.

Here is the first one -
Occurence - SL v Pak - Nairobi 1996.

When Jayasuriya hit those 4 consecutive sixes off Aamir Sohail, Holding produced following masterpiece
1st six- Jayasuriya goes for the big one..its a six!!!!
2nd - Jayasuriya does it again!!!!!!!!!
3rd- Another one from Jayasuriya
4th- Yet another one from Jayasuriya..

the end.

Search for the rare commodity in Indian cricket

2006-02-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

Who was the last genuine fast bowler to play for India?

Zaheer? - Was considered in that league till he got over-excited in the WCup final. he has not been the same bowler since.
currently - out of sorts - 125-130
Agarkar? - Very nippy, very quick. But suffers from consistency. first 50 wkts in 22 games, next in almost double that. then from 100-150 in 27, then the next in 30-odd.
currently - same inconsistency - 125-135
Nehra ?- less said the better. if Agarkar suffers from inconsistency, Nehra plain suffers. 5-6 matches on the trot he bowls well, more often than not we find his car parked in the hospital parking.
current - out of action.
Srinath - was real quick when he was raw. accused of bowling short. personally to me, the unluckiest seam bowler ever. how many times have we seen him beat the bat?
Kapil - never quick, but very good at seam and swing.

to get to real fast bowlers, we have to actually go back to India's first test ever. Lord's 1932.
Mohammed Nissar and Lala Amar Singh. the first 5-for was snapped by Nissar in the very first innings. in fact the two had England down to 3/19. Herbert Sutcliffe 3, F Wooley 9, W Hammond 35.

Why could we have two of the fastest bowlers at that time, but none after them? This is as much a mystery as our liking for spin.
Coming back to the present, we have a new bunch of guys doing the talking with the ball these days.
Irfan Pathan - undoubtedly a gifted young man. knows his limitations. bowls incredible bananas. gets those edges and lbws which elude others. batting is a plus.
current - 130-135
L Balaji - Balaji zara dheere chalo. was the song to which Pakistanis were dancing on our last tour. the biggest hit amongst them was Balaji.
current - on the injured list.
Sree Santh - deceptively quick. uses short balls, yorkers, late swing effectively. fastest of the current lot.
current - 135-140
R P Singh - young bowler. nice and smooth action. medium pace. 3 MoMs in 13 Matches.
current - 125-135.

so do we have anyone better? maybe. maybe the guys who restricted Eng XI to 238.
Munaf Patel - fast. played in a warm-up match against the Kiwis in 2003 alongwith SreeSanth and R P Singh. took 5 of the 11 Kiwi wickets to fall in both innings. been playing domestic cricket for Mumbai and Maharashtra since then. both the other bowlers made it to the national team. high time he makes the cut.
VRV Singh - another young and fast bowler. selected for the 1st test against England.

Mahi ve...

2006-02-20T20:07:00.000-08:00

As Dravid and Yuvraj seemed to milk the Pakistani bowling and heading for a match-winning partnership, Inzamam felt he had to do something. He brought back Mohammad Sami, the person who took three vital wickets the previous match. This was the 31st over.

Sami, not burly enough to be called a giant, is known to generate surprising pace from his smooth run-up. He measured his run-up, and he strode in, Dravid's eyes narrowed, concentration oozing all over the wrinkles that now fill his forehead when he's concentrated. He pushed the ball gently, no run.

In came Sami, promising pace as menacing as ever; and here it was, well, not quite anything express - but a well-directed, intelligent slowe delivery. And Dravid - oh, Dravid! Why did you do that? Why did you drive it so non-chalantly to mid-on? Did you not realise what your wicket means to us? We're a batsman short, The Master has been rested, and we're a batsman short!

The crowd was, of course, jubiliant. Kaif was, after all, out of form, scoring two ducks on the trot. Dhoni flirted with danger too often, Raina was a kid, and Pathan wasn't there. True, Yuvraj was batting, but he needed support, and we were only halfway there, and we needed over seven runs an over.

Suddenly there was a hush in the crowd. What the hell, I thought - they should be celebrating, we need over seven an over, and we've just lost our skipper for fifty, a man who has crossed nine thousand ODI runs today.

In strode Dhoni. Mahi. Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The Karachi crowd became silent - so silent that I almost forgot we had lost Dravid the previous ball. They forgot to back their bowlers. They forgot the fact that this was the last pair who can take us anywhere close to victory, that their moral support meant a lot. They were too demoralised to cheer - it was as if they'd caught a sight of death around the corner.

But why? Wasn't this the ground that saw India capitulate to Mohammad Asif a fortnight back? Why exactly were they so scared of Dhoni? We haven't see them go quiet when Azharuddin, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag or Yuvraj came out to bat - they shouted like hell to make life miserable for the batsman.

Because they knew. They knew this was a batsman who is unprecedented. We have seen Indians blast opponents apart and sent the blood in our veins boil as a result. Not him. He is an assassin , true, but only in effect. In nature he works with the same assurance as a banker counts his notes or a professor takes a class or a programmer writes a code: he is fully aware of what he is doing, and hence does it with supreme control. It's not the fact that he does it. It's that he knows beforehand exactly what to do, how to lead a massacre, and he does exactly that on a regular basis.

He represents the new generation of Indian cricket. He is not merely a cricketer or a member in the side. He is a professional, and simply does his role without any fuss. It's another matter that he looks gorgeous while he does that. It's yet another matter that girls go ga-ga over his hair, and the Pakistani president asks him not to have a haircut.

Of course, we, his fans, know that these don't really mean a lot to him. It was just another day at work at Karachi, nothing else. So what if our hearts sing out Mahi ve when we see those familiar locks at the crease...

Sultans of Multan ...and Karachi Beckons ... AGAIN

2006-02-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

This series win for India is very significant. Most importantly because it had come on the back of an unexpected if not upsetting defeat in the test series. The vultures, the Gangulians and other species were once again looking to jump upon the opportunity to call for the head of the captain and the coach. In the scenario only an emphatic series win would have silenced these. Twice now, in the last few months, I have found a victory significant more to defeat the enemy within than the opposition on the field. The first time it happened at Mumbai in December when Captain Courageous stood up to lead his team to a series-levelling victory after the vicous attack at the Eden and certain sections of the fans had left a very bad taste in the mouth. Today again it was the same enemy hidden in perhaps a slighly different and less-intense guise. Indeed it is a continuing legacy of Zimbabwe 2005 that is inadvertently bringing out the best in Team India, the team of Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell again and again. Well, now coming to the match itself, this was by far the most convincing performance of the series. To bundle out a team for 161 and then get there with over 15 overs left is nothing short of comprehensive. India should be heartily congratulated for their splendid clinical effort. I do think the odd easy win like this is necessary just to give the players some breathing space, some time to relax. After all a match like Lahore does take a lot out of you physically and mentally, and even though Rawalpindi was relatively easier it was nowhere close to this dominating performance. The bowlers deserve full credit. Pathan has been splendid throughout the series. So has Sreesanth. It is just that this time he got his due rewards. RP Singh once again got better results than his bowling deserved I think. He bowled some good balls but also bowled a lot of rubbish stuff in between. Maybe he is the kind of golden arm bowler than can just take a lot of wickets without necessarily bowling too well. If so he will last for another couple of years. That will still be good for India in the short term. And in the batting my predicted Tendulkar failure came albeit a couple of matches too late. Indeed, the recent scores of Tendulkar make very interesting reading. Since his return from injury his scores have been 93, 67*, 2, 10, 19, 39, 2, 2, 2, 30, 100, 42, 95, 0 As can be seen in 14 innings 4 of them are over 67 (3 over 93 and even that 67 is a not out), 7 of them are below 19 and only 3 of them are in the more or less average range. A clear indication that he has trouble starting out, but once he gets set he is likely to make it count. Anyway, just a diversion there. Coming back to the innings, the Dravid Yuvi partnership did most of the work yet again. Some of Yuvraj's strokeplay was as usual sparkling but the most pleasant surprise of the day came from Raina. Displaying a quality of strokeplay that reminded one of a positive mix of Sourav Ganguly (of yore) and Yuvraj Singh (of now) he took the team home to raise hopes of finding a long term middle order stroke maker with a mature head and an ability to finish off innings. So we have won the series and now have some leeway to experiment a few things in Karachi. One thing I would definitely want to do is to bat first. See how good we are at defending (Rather, we know we are bad at defending, see if we can do something about it.) Then, we need to consider resting key players. Pathan and Tendulkar are the ones that come to mind immediately. But this might well be SRTs last ODI on Pak soil and he might want a last hurrah. So we could consider supersubbing him with Powar. Just under 2 years ago Karachi saw a memorable day - a day that revived India Pakistan bilateral cricket in the grandest spirit possible that brought out not only the best cricket from either side but the best of human spirit and bonding and brotherhood on either side of the border. India was victorious that day. Today, we have come a long way with respect to our relations with Pak not just cricket-wise. Sure there have been hiccups, on and off the field. India's last visit to Karachi was particularly disastrous result. But let us hope that while we return to the city where it all started we definitely see some very good cricket played in great spirits. Of course it is difficult to live up to the phenomenon that occured in 2004 but at least an effort can be made. And from India's point of view, the result should be duplicated.

Cross posted on Outside Edge.

A Poem on Sachin

2006-02-14T22:25:00.000-08:00

Forwarded to me by a friend whose friend has composed it.

Who will shine in the WCup?

2006-02-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of guys who I think will do a commendable job in WC2007. I am putting in my Top 3 performers per team. the list obviously excludes BD and Zim.

AUS - Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee, Adam Gilchrist.
ENG - Andrew Fintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Vaughan
RSA - Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Kemp, Mkhaya Ntini
WI - Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan
NZ - Nathan Astle, Daniel Vettori, Hamish Marshall
IND - Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni
PAK - Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Yousuf
SL - Kumara Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardhane, Muttiah Muralitharan

World Cup - who will win it?

2006-02-14T17:26:00.000-08:00

still almost an year to go for the World Cup. things are getting hotter, unlike in 2003, where the Aussies were clear favoriates.
this one will real test the teams. man! am i glad they got rid of that pathetic Super 6 stage!
Super 8 is a much better system. also it will mean that after 1992, all major teams will play each other to decide the last 4.

Very difficult this time round.
Aussies - showed in the last 2 matches why they are no.1.
I think they will still be a very hard nut to crack.
India - have been good in favorable conditions of Ind/Pak.
We may get a preview of the pitches in a couple of months time. Should do well.
Lankans - they are like a pendulum these days. horrible one day and stun the best the next!
Personally, if the power-plays go, then they become one of the favoriates. pitches suit them, and they revert back to their gameplan of boring people to death.
Pakistan - a very dangerous side. esp. on WI pitches of this time.
The combined power of Afridi/Akmal/Malik/Razzaq and experience of the Big 3 could really turn the tide their way, if they get their order right.
England - Fresh stock, Ashes hysteria, Pakistan failure... A mixed bag really.
the only team that goes in with a 4-pronged pace attack these days.
Kiwis - Dangerous floaters
chased huge targets successfully and otherwise at home. pitches might suit their dibbly-dobbly bowling.
Proteas - nice run of 21 non-defeats. but found the going tough in India and were knocked over by Aussies and Lankans in the VB Series.
handy all-rounders, but main stars are ageing.
Hosts - hopeless.
pace attack lacks bite. batsmen lack application.

Next post will be about the probable stars.

Do feel free to add your views.

Yuvraj Singh

2006-02-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

We are probably not realising the fact that we are witnessing a star being reborn. This is someone special, someone very, very special.

When he scored that dazzling 80-odd against Australia, we were amazed, but were sceptic about what his future holds. After all, we have seen many flash-in-the-pans.

When he contributed in match after match in the world cup, we saw, but never believed that he can make it to stardom. Anyone could have done that, we said.

When he made his maiden test hundred at Lahore, we were awestruck at his ability to meet fire with fire. But still, we were not convinced.

He was in and out of the side. He has always been a superb strokeplayer and a talismanic figure while fielding, and yet the consistency was never there. He was there, and yet not there as well. The critics termed him as a once-in-a-blue-moon-performer.

Ganguly and Wright believed in him, though. They encouraged him all the while. And now Dravid and Chappell do the same. If the former two had found the fire in him, the latter two have realised how best to utilise the fire.

True, we would have still flattened the Lankans, had he not played those two second-innings gems. True, his unprecedented counter-attack was in vain, despite the fact that it did put several of his illustrous colleagues to shame. True, his performances in the recent ODIs have always been assisted by Dravid or Kaif or Tendulkar or Dhoni or someone else.

But, in recent past, India's stunning chain of run-chases have almost always involved him; it has always been him and someone else. He was always there, cutting the bowling to ribbons, placing the ball for singles to preserve his wicket for the final kill, maintaining or transferring strike as per the requirements of the situation.

It has always been him. The shots were always there. The killer instinct was there as well. Now he has combined them with a ruthless professionalism and an insatiable hunger for runs and team success.

Australia would do well to watch out. He might be leading our way to dethrone them in the Caribbean Islands next year.

Is BCCI biting more than it can chew?

2006-02-09T18:33:00.000-08:00

Lets put together the bits and pieces.
BCCI, thanks to its bickering has been a mess as regards most of its domestic decisions. be it pitches or players contracts or BCCI elections or rotations. But once Mr Sharad Pawar got elected to the post of BCCI chief, BCCI sure has become aggressive and is making all kinds of aggressive or self-centered decisions.
Everybody agrees that cricket in India is a cow which can be milked any amount as of now. Everyone also agrees that India being the market super-power should get to play more with the likes of Australia, England, Pakistan. Everyone agrees that the Champions Trophy is taxing in more than one sense on the hosts, particularly if it eats into your prime time of the season.
But is BCCI taking it too far?
Lets see what all has happened so far, albeit from the BCCI side only.
1. Cancelling NZ tour
2. Walking out of Champions Trophy
3. Scheduling its own tours with Aus/Eng/Pak
4. Quoting some not-so-appreciable things about BD
5. Seeking truncating the 4 test tour of WI to 3.

There is a school of thought which says that BCCI should do all these things but be patient and wait for things to happen after initiating the action. They are trying to rush into it. It is the same like just because the wicket is good and hard you try to start smashing from ball one, and can end up getting out soon. something that had happened to Hayden in last 2 years.

BCCI wants to mint money, but it does seem to be wanting to improving the grounds, amenties etc. It is doing nothing to generate interest for domestic cricket.

Pak tour - Reality Bites - Part 2

2006-02-09T00:57:00.000-08:00

Continuing from where I left off with my last post.
We saw the negatives of the tour from my viewpoint. now we have look at the positives that emerged out of the series.

1. Pathan - The probable all-rounder

Irfan Pathan. a couple of years back making waves playing for India U19. single handedly skittled out Bangladesh U19 taking 9-for in an ODI. post-Sachin Tendulkar no other Indian player has generated so much interest at such a young age.
His debut was in trying conditions, in undoubtedly the toughest land and against the toughest opponents today. We are talking about Australia. made a commendable debut and had a dream tour to Pakistan last time. When Pakistan visited India last year, he seemed to have lost his ability to swing the ball. A welcome break of 3-4 months recharged the youngster's batteries, and he not only bounced back with the ball, but now has started contributing heftily with the bat as well, raising the hopes a 1 Billion strong nation of a neo-Kapil Dev. whenever he has been promoted up the order, he has come out flying with the bat in both versions.
while he had a quiet time with the ball in the first two tests, which were more than a graveyard for bowlers of all kinds, he sent a big reminder to the entire cricketing world with the fastest ever hat-trick in Test match history, which many doubt will ever be broken. to break it will require the bowler to take a hat-trick before the last bowl of the 1st over of a Test match is bowled! Pathan shone with the bat in both batsmen-friendly as well as not-so-batsmen-friendly conditions in Faislabad and Karachi. The best attribute that Pathan possesses is his thinking ability. like a chameleon adjusts to the color of the environment around it, so does Pathan in his batting.

2. Yuvraj Singh - showing signs of materializing the promise
Yuvraj Singh has been around since 2000 ICC Knock Out tournament, where he announced his arrival with a slam-bang 84 against the world champions Australia. he alongwith Kaif and Dravid provided India with finishers during their run-up to the World Cup final in 2003 and VB Series in 2004. Though Yuvi has been in the Test team for the last 4 years, he has got only limited chances, mainly because of the dearth of slots. Now, with injuries to Dravid and Sehwag against SL, and the non-selection of Ganguly, he has a chance to cement his place at No.6.
No doubt he is one of the men who will carry India on his shoulders once the famed Indian middle order retires in the near future. Its time he started proving himself. and he is doing it in style these days. scores of 75,77 against SL in the two victories, followed by couple of 40s and a classy century against Pakistan. his fielding is a bonus as it is.

3. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Sometimes called India's answer to Adam Gilchrist, Dhoni scored a crucial century against Pakistan once Pakistan started to dismantle the Indian middle order at Lahore. he along with Pathan took India not only out of trouble, but ensured that they surpassed the Pakistani total. Although he did not perform to his own standards in the decider, he would surely be excused as the famed stalwarts of Indian batting line-up failed to get into double digits.
With his wicket-keeping improving by the day, he looks to be in for a very long haul in international cricket for India.

4. Sourav Ganguly
After a long thought I decided to give Ganguly the benifit of the doubt and put him here. Touted as the man who can not face fast bowling, Ganguly put forward a decent case with solid 34 and 37 and was involved in two meaningful partnerships with Yuvraj Singh, eventhough they did not matter in the end as India was humiliated. His batting against Akhtar was pretty neat, and he looked set for big scores in both innings. but he could not capitalize on it. had Ganguly scored 50 odd in at least one of the innings (preferably first), it would have been a lot better for the Indian team as well as for Ganguly.

5. Dravid
Dravid started off with a blaze with two unbeaten centuries in the first two tests. one being involved in a mammoth 410 run partnership with Virendra Sehwag. His coming out to open the innings has been seen as another move which has been risky but well-calculated, as were the moves of pushing Pathan and Dhoni up the order occasionally. Dravid could have done a lot of good to the team's cause in Karachi, but Mohammed Asif proved to be the undoing for India.
The twin failures in Karachi dampened the very good tour he was having till then.

Pak tour - Reality Bites

2006-02-01T22:21:00.000-08:00

A very sad end to a pathetic tour.
let's have a look at what all were the negatives -

1. Tour schedule -
As Imran kept repeating, they could have had the first test in Karachi and then the others.

2. Belter wickets -
The first two tests produced no-contests in terms of batting v bowling. rather it was Indian batting v Pakistani batting. the bowlers were reduced to schoolboys, and the tests were a farce. a far cry from what the Ashes was. and they had the audacity of calling this the same.

3. False sense of security -
Batsmen friendly pitches enabled the Indians to reply Pakistanis in the same coin in the two tests at Lahore and Faislabad. scoring 410 and 600 in the first innings of both the tests sent a new sense of self-assurance to the Indian team as well as the common fans.

4. Recurring problem -
The problem of not finishing the tail off after going through the top and middle order once again came back to haunt the Indians. They threw Pakistan a line and they not just grabbed it, but yanked it real hard. We are not supposed to lose the test, forget the initiative, after having the best of the conditions and being in a dream position of having the opposition at 39/6.

5. Stark reality -
The third test basically emphasised on the often remarked theory that green grass is not exactly the idea of a nice outing for the Indians. time and again we have succumbed to the greentops.
Over the last 5-6 years, the big 3 followed by VVS and Sehwag have given India one of its strongest batting line-ups ever. It is proven by the huge scores that we have put up consistently in England/Australia/Pakistan. but somehow I feel those pitches have not been as bowler-friendly as earlier. for instance, we played a weak England side in 2002, in the 2nd half of summer, when the pitches lose their juice. in 2003/04 in Australia the pitches were not hostile. still when it came to facing greentops in between the purple patch, we failed miserably. be it Melbourne 03/Nagpur 04 /Lahore 04/Bangalore 05. The only test where we overcame real difficult bowler-friendly conditions was in Headingley 02.

Pathetic tour!

2006-01-22T18:03:00.000-08:00

This tour is turning out to be nothing but a batsman's walk around the park!

670/410/590/110-1 so far !

who in the blue hell would be crazy enuff to expect a result out here?

if the rain gods have their say... then we will not bat anymore than 50 overs more.

one of my Pakistani friends here in Japan wrote to me saying that -

Yar bahut afsose hay hum ney aap key teem ko bulaya our aap log khuch to memman nawazi ka khiyal karain. Banda khabhie to out ho.... (refering to Sehwag obviously)

the crux of the matter is the cricket buffs on both sides of the border will be pretty disappointed with the proceedings.

Test 2, Day-1, moments

2006-01-21T19:02:00.000-08:00

After a long time I got 1 full day of my own to devot it to live cricket action on TV, as a result I watched the day 1 proceedings uninterrupted. Here is recollection of some of the events which unfortunately went against team India and could have turned the match in India's favor.

1. Kumble misses: RPS making hi debut, bowls a nice short of length ball little outside off and some extra bounce, balls flies like a rocket searchin for Kumble's head, Kumble who least expected the ball taken evasive action and a debutant misses taking a wicket on his first ball of his test career.

2. Sachin's Shy: Did the throw miss the stumps by a margin of cigrette paper as Dean Jone's described it. Man, younis Khan must have prayed an extra after that.
And what was our Zaki doing watching the throw instead of rushing towards the stumps?

3. Bhajji's Best ball: The best ball bowled by Bhajji during the day came in his first over, bowling to Salman Butt, over the wicket, the ball pitched on middle, turned and bounced, took the shoulder of the bat and flew high above RD standing at slips.

4. Umpire spoils: The best phase of the match during the post tea session, when Kumble and Bhajji were bowling, Kumble troubled Inzi for few overs and during this time produced balls which hit Inzi on his pads, one of those balls went straight and caught Inzi in front of stumps, Inzi was not completely forward, ball hit the pad first but umpire Taufel on his 35th B'day thought of giving a gift to Inzi and not Kumble.

Any more additions are welcome.

EoD: If Ranji semis action was available live of TV, I would have opted to see that.

Regards,
Kamlesh Pareek

Faisalabad Facts

2006-01-20T21:53:00.000-08:00

Some pieces of history relevant to India:

- Venue of the debut of the great Kapil Dev

- Venue at which Sachin Tendulkar scored his first international fifty

Cross posted on Outside Edge

India Squad Composition

2006-01-20T14:57:00.000-08:00

OK. Lets get down to business. Firstly the players about whom there is no question.
Sehwag
Dravid
VVS
Tendulkar
Dhoni
Irfan
Kumble

Which leaves us with 2 middle order spots and 2 bowling slots to mull over. This assuming we will go in with 4 bowlers again. If not, as some reports indicate, we have just the one middle order slot and this is the more interesting scenario.

In the first case, Ganguly and Yuvraj will obviously take the 2 slots. I dont see a surprise being sprung in the form of Jaffer/Gambhir being brought back, not after that grand opening partnership between the skipper and his deputy. Then we have Agarkar, Zaheer, RP Singh, Harbhajan fighting it out over 2 slots. As Faisalabad has traditionally not been a great hunting ground for spinners, we might just see Harbhajan miss out. Then if reports are any indication, Agarkar will retain his spot with a shootout between Zaheer and RPS for the last slot. Here too, earlier reports suggested that RPS might make it. He was, after all in the team ahead of Zaheer for the SL series and needs to be given a chance. Zaheer on the other hand has all that experience behind him. Of course to add to the confusion is the fact that if the surface were to be disregarded and the notion of "Play your best bowlers" is to be followed Harbhajan comfortably scores over both Zaheer and RPS.

My take in this scenario: Agarkar and RP Singh will play.

Now coming to the second and more interesting scenario. The line of thinking is that on a flat batting track
a) We will need more firepower in the bowling.
b) With our batsmen in such good form (particularly VS and RD) we could do without a genuine #6.

Both points are debatable, actually. If 4 bowlers cant do it, can 5 ?? Can we expect Veeru to fire with such ferocity again ?? Nevetherless the issue of playing an extra batsman/bowler is a problem faced by cricketing teams since time immemorial and no definitve solution has yet been obtained. Suffice to say that in the abscence of a genuine all-rounder, on a majority of the occasions teams go with 6 batters. But there have been several memorable successful 5 batsmen campaigns as well. Well bottomline is in that scenario you need your Numbers 6 and 7 to contribute healthily with the bat and here I do believe Irfan and Dhoni have given us sufficient confidence to believe they can do it.

So assuming we go in with the 5-1-5 combination, I for one would definitely like to see Yuvraj ahead of Ganguly. And this is what I think will happen. Whether or not there are external pressures, I believe everyone now agrees (RD and GC most importantly) that we have GOT TO play Yuvraj. So that leaves Sourav Ganguly out, effigy burning, protests and parliamentary discussions notwithstanding. Then obviously Harbhajan plays. And once again it is a straight shoot out between Zaheer and RPS for the last spot.

Pretty neat and mathematical what ??

OK, so what have we got here:
Case 1: 6-14 Case 2: 5-1-5
Sehwag Sehwag
Dravid Dravid
Laxman Laxman
Tendulkar Tendulkar
Yuvraj Yuvraj
Ganguly Dhoni
Dhoni Irfan
Irfan Agarkar
Agarkar Kumble
Kumble Harbhajan
RP Singh RP Singh

Lots of analytical work which could very well flop. Who knows ? Let's see.

Update: From Cricinfo, here's why pace bowlers hold an edge over spinners at Faisalabad -

Since 1995, spin has yielded 86 wickets at 38.07 and a strike rate of 81.26 while the fast bowlers have done far better: 150 wickets at an average of 26.13 and strike rate of 51.33.

Cross-posted on Outside Edge

India v Pak Second Test Preview

2006-01-20T12:15:00.000-08:00

OK. Trying to filter out the information from the noise that forms all the pre match reports before the second test at Faisalabad. Here goes.

Firstly, it looks likely that Mohammad Asif might be included in the squad. Is he likely to be a threat ?? I would think not. For someone like Virender Sehwag, who has in the past treated Shoaib Akhtar like a club bowler, these Shoaib wannabes should be easy meat. What I do wonder is whether Rana Naved will play or not. For me, he was going to be the danger man for India, more so than Shoaib. I read conflicting reports about his selection, all I can say is that if indeed he is dropped it would be great for India.

Now coming to the surface. This is likely to be a batting track again but possibly more sporting than Lahore. In that most likely a draw will be a foregone conclusion slightly later in the day than it was at Lahore. No, seriously I think it will be a hard, keen battle. Not too much in it for the bowlers, but the batsmen wont find it so easy to score. So the team that applies the pressure well, produces the odd moment of brilliance has a fair chance to come out on top. Win the toss and bat first.

Zainub gives the preview from a Pakistani perspective here.

Wanted to post in more details about India's team composition but it looks like it deserves a post of its own, so.

Cross posted on Outside Edge

I m here

2006-01-19T01:05:00.000-08:00

So then...lets begin...

Test post

2006-01-18T23:44:00.000-08:00

Hi ...

Testing !

Welcome folks....

2006-01-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

Hi guys n gals....

This is the very 1st post of the SRT Fans club that enjoys the membership of more than 1500 members from all walks of life, connected by their various degrees of love and/or respect for possibly the best Indian cricketer to walk the face of Earth.

please contribute to the blog as it is upto all of us to keep it flowing and glowing !

i hope we have the same fun that we have had so far on the e-group.

cheers,
sameer.