Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Aah, Adelaide

Such wonderful memories from 3 years back - the venue of one of Indian cricket's most famous wins.

- Aus ending Day 1 seemingly unstoppable at 400/5, with Mr. Ponting at 176*.
- Kumble picking 5 to restrict them (!!) to 556 and not 700.
- India ending Day 2 at 180/4 - struggling, but a promising partnership between that old pair of Lax and Rahul. Aus always are wary of these two guys in tandem.
- Dravid's magnificient innings of 233, getting India very close to Aus' first innings. Lax scoring another century V Aus.
- No Warne, no McGrath - MacGill hammered, and so were the rest.
- Where did Agarkar get that spell from? 6 for fucking 41?? Never before, never after. Whatever he does from then on end, he will always have this spell to think back upon and smile.
- Complacent Aus - all out for 196. But would that have happened if not for Sachin's two magic deliveries to get Steve Waugh and Martyn out? I doubt it. Remember, Sachin was struggling getting into this series, and didn't fire with the bat. But try keeping him out of the action!
- That level headed man again - Rahul, holding the chase together and getting us home with 72 n.o. Sehwag threatened to win it in a few overs before getting carried away. Tendulkar played well, but Laxman's flurry of boundaries finally eased the pressure off. How they missed Warney.

Wow, great time was had by all Indian fans.

Can England do the same now?

- McGrath and Warne are back in the team and tormenting England. However, Pigeon seems to have an injury, and Warne was far from his best in Brisbane.
- England can score heavily here - and if they do, they can put pressure on Aus. India showed how. 2 guys need to score big, and the others need to chip in with 30s atleast.
- If Agarkar can take a 6 wicket haul, so can Freddie/Harmy.
- All is not lost even after conceding 400 runs on Day 1. India showed that in Adelaide.

Please England, do this for the neutrals. Draw the series going into Perth, thank you very much.

We probably don't deserve a good cricket team

Not after this and this anyway. Shame on us!

Truth is, we are not as good as the media and public expectations are. We are a middling team with youngsters who have never ever encountered conditions like those in SA. Remember, no team has done well in SA except perhaps Australia. Sure we can do better, but nothing deserves reactions like those occuring in India at the moment.

To add injury to insult, Dravid is out of the next two ODIs. That is a severe blow, and it is now surely time for Sachin, Sehwag and Kaif (the three most experienced batsmen) to score 200 runs between them. Dhoni has shown the world (and proving me wrong in the process) that what he lacks for in technique he makes up for in spirit - hopefully that will rub off on a few bowlers as well. India may not win a single game in the ODI series, but if they are seen as improving, that can augur well for the Tests to follow.

Come on you guys - dig deep, and show them what you got!

Monday, November 27, 2006

1-0 Aus

Well well - this Ashes has started like all others in recent living memory - an easy peasy Aussie win. It was quite boring to watch, to be honest, except for one brief spell when KP and Vollingwood took to Warne and co. Freddie appeared weighed down, and that can't be good for the team. However we clutch at straws, and most of England's top order got some runs, so hopefully Adelaide will see them scoring heavy. How they can take 20 Aus wickets, though, remains a major concern. Especially if Harmison insists on bowling direct to second slip.

Speaking of which, do make it a point to read Martin Johnson wherever he writes. He is bloody funny - and his take on Harmy's wonder ball first up at the Gabba made me forget that India are playing woeful.
Maybe it was Harmison simply being prescient, because it quickly became obvious that the sooner the ball found its way into Flintoff's hands, the better.
Read his articles in the Telegraph, and the Age. Also make it a point to follow some comments on the respective blogs - good banter for a neutral to enjoy without being too emotionally involved.

And yeah, India lost, again. They should not have - not after having SA at 70 odd for 6! But they did, and quite badly. The heat is well and truly on at home - politicians are debating it in Parliament, the BCCI is adding more pressure by sending additional monitors, and the team management is doing the morale of its batsmen no good by picking a standby wicketkeeper over 3 established bats. They better turn it around quick - can't be easy though.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Business as usual in the Southern Hemisphere

- India get hammered against SA
- Durban gets another sub-100 score from India
- Only Sachin and Rahul look anywhere close to being capable of facing up to the music
- SA has a truckload of pacemen who can deliver chin music
- India's spinners struggle

- Australia mount yet another 300 plus score on Day 1 of a critical Test series
- Ponting hammers yet another century in Australia. He is probably the best player of pace bowling in the world
- England come a cropper yet again on Day 1 of the Ashes
- Brisbane looks beautiful and bloody hot

Who says sport is unpredictable?

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Lara the megastar

Watching Lara take on Kaneria and gang as I write this - the effortless ease with which he can turn it on is just way too amazing. He is 58 off 46 balls, and the ability to find the gaps and also clear the outfield is unparalleled.

I was listening in to the Cricinfo Roundtable discussion, where everyone (Ian Chappell, Wright, Ravi Shastri and Tony Greig) ranked him as the best in the world. Their assessment was based on the fact that he dominates better than everyone else (read Sachin and Ponting), he looks great while in full flow and has done it better than everyone else against all attacks, against world class spin and in all conditions. I agree - but not fully.

At his best, he is the best in the world, no question about that. If there was a one off match against the best from Pluto, you would probably pick Lara at his best (or Ponting on current form). However, if you wanted someone to play the entire year against all forms of opposition and want consistent aggression and class, you would pick Tendulkar at his best (which means the late '90s). Lara is the one-off maverick, Ponting now is the big match bull, and Sachin is the consistent high class performer.

Update 2: Still going strong, our man. 165 not out at a run a ball. His manhandling of Kaneria and Shoaib Malik is outstanding to watch. How can we forget one of his greatest abilities - to be able to convert 100s into big, big ones. 400, 501, 375, 277...
Update 1: 4-0-6-6-6-4 off one Kaneria over before I could finish the post above, and he has rocketed on to 92 off 63! Lara added 40 runs before I could finish one blog post. Can anyone else do that in a Test match?? Away from home??