Well Done South Africa

Not just for drawing the last test but also talking the talk after walking the walk. As Peter English acknowledges in this article on Cricinfo, Smith has proved that his rhetoric about the Australian middle order being weak was in fact correct. At least, it has so proved on 2 of 3 occasions now.

Also very impressed by Andre Nel, whom I considered until not long ago, a little more than a bully and a rogue. Here however, for the first time he has put in a performance worth talking about. I still do not approve of his ways, but good job nevetherless.

So the two perceived bullies getting it right ...

From Down Under - Cliches and Non-cliches

Sound bytes from Down Under, in this case from none other than Shane Warne.

First a pretty cliched "Lacks Imagination". No prizes for guessing who it is aimed at. Of course it is the South African captain. When he was in Australia for the Super Series, Ian Chappell had made the same accusation verbatim.

Warne also goes on to add that Smith is only following in the tradition of South African captains, in so lacking. Surprise surprise, I remember Chappeli also aiming the same incrimination, definitely against Hansie Cronje and possibly also against Pollock, though I'm not so sure he did about the latter.

Warney does provide us with something original though - and it is "The New Daryll" - remember good old Daryll Cullinan, a very competent batsmen against spinners NOT NAMED WARNE ?? Oh yes, he who scored centuries in India and Sri Lanka. Well, Warne thinks that of this side, either Justin Kemp or Ashwell Prince is likely to be the new Daryll. Here is Gaurav's take on it

Boring ODI Cricket !

Says who ? Me ? Well yeah, sometimes and definitely in comparison to Test Cricket. Also more often than not, several meaningless tri-series and quadrangulars can get on the nerves. But here Peter May in his column on Cricket365.com talks about how he sometimes suddenly gets the feeling that he HATES ODI cricket.

But waking up on Saturday morning to hear the results from xxx and xxx, it occurred to me: I think I hate one-day cricket
...
Not only did England actually post a decent score and then defend it against superior
opposition, but New Zealand broke the record for the highest ever successful
chase and again gave hope to the rest of us that Australia are not quite the
force they were.

As things stand "phenomenal" events occured in ODI cricket last month. NZ chased down 331 to beat Australia, the highest total ever-chased but did it really register ?? Didn't it just get lost as one of those things ?? Contrast this to the occasion when we first took over the same record early in 1998 by beating Pakistan in the dark at Dacca ... boy I can still remember that Hrishikesh Kanitkar boundary.

He goes on:

Still, how many sixes can you see Afridi hit before wondering what’s on the news or how the Big Brother inmates are taking indignity to a new low? We are,
after all, the cricket community; we not Americans.

George W. Bush and co might be happy seeing ball after ball pummelled out of a stadium, open-mouthedly following the trajectory of another big hit. This is to reduce Afridi and Pietersen to the status of Mark McGuire, physical freak shows and hitting machines.

It always seemed to me that cricket was about rather more than that: it was about subtlety, patience, intelligence and grace. All four are handicaps rather than
strengths in ODI batting these days while bowlers may as well be replaced by
machines since their job is simply to provide boundary-fodder.

Exactly my sentiments. Not for nothing do I always maintain that people like VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble are just not good enough for this game rather than the other way round.

For some odd reason only the ICC chiefs and Sunil Gavaskar know, they seem to think that in ODI cricket all that people want to see are boundaries and sixes. As a result of this flawed thinking, they have done everything possible to make the bowlers look like third class citizens. They have created new regulations for the so-called betterment of the game which continue to favor the batters. And then they wonder why the game is getting even more boring. And then I suppose they will think of even more rules to favor the batters - consider this: The close catch-in fielders in the first ten overs were meant to allow the batsmen gaps to hit out anyway. Now if they think that these close catching fielders are in fact helping the bowlers pick up early wickets, they might just consider doing away with them. Of course, the sky is the limit when it comes to making the game more favorable for the batsmen.

Peter concludes with admirable precision as to what exactly needs to be done to arrest this trend - but will the big bosses at the ICC pay heed ?

There should be plenty fewer games and some power and respect given back to the bowlers before ODI cricket fatigue becomes all encompassing.
If not, ODI cricket is surely done-diddly-un for.

Autobiographies !

Interesting names for certain autobiographies. (or other books they might consider writing)

Sourav Ganguly - Rub Of(f) The "Green" ! , Who Moved My Crown ?, The Prince And The Pauper
Greg Chappell - The Enemy Within, How To Win Matches Rather Than Friends
Shoaib Akhtar - I'm The Best
Steve Waugh - Waiting for The Maharaja
Sachin Tendulkar - Main Aur Meri Centuries, Out Of My Shell
Ashish Nehra - I Have A Day-dream ...
Harbhajan - Kabhi Ganguly Kabhi Chappell
Harbhajan - @The Lord Of The Rings - The Return Of The Singh (on his grand comeback at the Eden Gardens)
Zaheer Khan - Main Kal Bhi Kuchch Khaas Na Tha, Main Aaj Bhi Gareeb Hoon

Ehsan Mani's Personal Diary

Today Graeme Smith has demanded an apology from the Perth crowd. I must look into this matter seriously. I mean it is fine, him getting riled up and expressing concern over racism and all that, but are players allowed to make demands of crowds ?? Doesn't that violate the Consumer-Is-God Act somewhere in the constitution ?? I must call up Michael and ask him to look up. Will probably have to give Graeme another rap. Poor fellow.

Daily Roundup

Graeme Smith demands an apology from the crowd. His anguish is understandable but isn't he taking it a bit too far ?? Can anyone beat the crowd ?? Wouldn't it be sensible to just move on ?? After all, he has had a reputation in the past of being a bit of a cry-baby.

James Anderson is back. Good to see. Always liked his bowling. I generally have a soft spot for pace bowlers who are in general not blessed with a strong physique but have great skills of swing and seam movement. Especially if they are underachievers. Agarkar, Sami, Anderson - the list reads such.

Shabbir Ahmed considers quitting the game. What can one say ? On the one hand one feels sorry for the individual. On the other, it is only right that someone who has been deemed to chuck be not allowed to bowl as per the regulations. Honestly, it is a pretty ugly sight watching someone chuck blatantly.

Cricket365.com in its infinite wisdom says that the India v Sri Lanka match is being played at the Pindi stadium. They might just correct their mistake after I link to it now. Anyway, that match is over, we won and we are now #2. Yippeee !! Congratulations Team India, not only this team but also the combination of John Wright and Sourav Ganguly for taking the team from the depths of 2000 to where they are right now. Now comes the harder part - maintaining that spot.

Meanwhile a lot of churning in the ICC ODI rankings for the English and Pakistani players after their ODI series. England are now in that very frustrating #7 spot bottom-most of a very competitive middle of the table, where we were not too long ago. Well, let's see how they feel about it.

Gilchrist joins Benaud in requesting Shane Warne to go on till the next tour of England. Me too. Would love to see Warne get one back at the English in their own backyard. Plus, such artists as him are precious jewels and need to be treasured for as long as possible.

Jacques Rudolph - Take A Bow

Quite a fabulous backs-to-the wall effort by the young South African. To be quite honest, I never expected him to play an innings of such a quality in such touh circumstances ever. I remember blogging some months back about him being a liability at #3 because he had too few strokes and couldn't up the momentum.

Well, to be frank I still have those reservations. I think his game is suited to play the kind of long innings where the sole purpose is survival rather than attack. How he will do in situations that demand setting up a challenging total or wresting the initiative needs to be seen.

However, for now, I sit back and applaud what even the experts call one of the best test innings in recent times.

Appreciating the Other's Role

In an interview with Arun Lal this morning Greg Chappell stressed that part of the aim of the strategic shuffling (termed experimentation) by the media was to help every player understand the role of other players in the team.

Hence Pathan and Dhoni promoted up the order to understand how the likes of Sehwag and SRT would be feeling handling the new ball and vice-versa.

But today we saw this taken to a very much more interesting and novel level - when Harbhajan opened the bowling with the new ball both times (also Kumble once) and Ajit Agarkar came on to bowl only when the ball got pretty old.

Amazing !

The Future Is Bright - The Future Is Yuvraj !!

The title line which was kind of making waves early in the twenty-first century when Yuvraj made that stunning debut at Nairobi can now, I guess be safely transformed to reflect the present. Yuvraj Singh has finally arrived in full flow and World Cricket is better for it. For Yuvraj brings to the game an incredible amount of value, just by his breathtaking strokeplay.

I would unhesitatingly state that Yuvraj is the most gifted striker India has ever produced since Sachin Tendulkar (with the possible exception of VVS Laxman, that too only for certain strokes). Here Dileep Premachandran pays tribute to Yuvraj's fantastic innings today and also pats the selectors on the back for keeping the faith in this mercurial yet phenomenal player.

But while Agarkar's innings spoke of the great depth of India's batting, he had to cede the day's honours to a man who came to the crease with everything to prove. His first-innings failure - few had bothered to note just how good a delivery Murali had produced to snaffle him - had reopened the debates about Yuvraj Singh belonging at this level and, shamefully, there were quite a few people willing him to fail here just so that their warped designs for Indian cricket could be carried on.

"In the event, the management and selectors that reposed faith in one of India's brightest young talents are fully entitled to pat themselves on the back, and show contempt for those who doubt the efficacy of a long-term vision that is already delivering spectacular results. Where his 77 at Delhi had been a dour effort tailored to the needs of that particular hour, Yuvraj's 75 today showcased everything that is special about his batting.

The drives crunched through the covers were glorious, but it was the manner in which he swept a doosra from Murali to the midwicket fence that was most telling. Against the sharp-turning ball, he is still far from the finished product, but the fusillade of magnificent shots that flowed from his bat this afternoon were ample proof of why he should be in the team. At his best, his outrageous talent makes him a matchwinner, and you just don't keep men like that out of a side. If Yuvraj carries on in this vein and does what Michael Hussey has done to revitalise the Australian batting, Indian cricket will be well served."

Good News

Somnath Chatterjee, the Honorable Speaker of the Lok Sabha has more pressing matters to look into so that hopefully he will forget about his rather ridiculous idea of discussing Sourav Ganguly in the Parliament.
From DNA, I quote:

Stung by the exposé, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is likely to ask the five-member house committee set up to probe the question scandal to inquire into the MPLADS scandal also. The committee has to submit its final report on the first sting by Wednesday.

Chatterjee said, “If the allegations are found to be true, consequences will follow.”

He will discuss the scandal and remedial action on Tuesday morning with the floor
leaders of various parties. Already, Samajwadi general secretary Amar Singh
has asked his party’s MP Yadav to quit

That should keep him busy for a while :-)

Lessons From Chennai For Delhi

First, Sehwag's approach was correct. The team would do well to emulate it. The media should stop trying to be too wise and condemn it. It is only with this kind of positive approach have we ever done well and are we ever likely to make good strides. Of course I do ot advocate that all other players play Sehwagesque innings, but definitely, the attitude of looking for every scoring opportunity needs to be imbibed. Especially when the initiative is there to be taken. Of course now that he has been ruled out, it is a major concern. I think this Test is likely to reveal the true character of Gautam Gambhir. I definitely don't mean to say if he fails here, he will prove himself short of character. But a big innings here will be signifcant in the long-term from his career perspective. I would vote for Sourav to open the innings with him. I don't want to disturb the rest of the line-up. Since any runs coming from Sourav will be considered a bonus, there is no harm in sending him atop. The only problem is he will get that many more opportunities to run others out.

Sachin Tendulkar should stop bothering about #35. If it is to come, it will come. He should realize that he is putting too much pressure on himself to get there resultantly harming both himself and the team.

Vaas and Murali in particular need to be attacked early. If they are allowed to settle, it could be the death-knell for India.

Hopefully, Pathan and Agarkar come good. Kumble can always be relied upon.

Jayawardene is a class act and must be treated as such. Just because he flopped big time in the Mickey Mouse version of the game, does not mean he will do so here. I think he should be attacked with spin early in his innings. He is vulnerable to spin then and then only. Particularly, the leg-spinner could cause some problems

Sehwag Scare

Veeru Sehwag is down with fever, admitted to hospital and is uncertain for the second test. This is BAD BAD news. All the best to Veeru for a speedy recovery and a great performance at his home ground.

Btw, there has been more than one occasions in the recent past that he has been down with fever or something like that. Hope all is OK.

Blatantly Racist !!

Wasim Akram here being blatantly racist saying he is against the ICC, specifically BECAUSE it is run by all "goras" (whites).

On A Roll

Yashpal Sharma is on a roll. After being dismissed from the national selection commitee and making "sensational" allegations against Greg Chappell, he has resigned not only as selector of the Delhi Ranji Team but also as a first-class umpire.

According to him he has "lost faith in people" - wow, talk about painting everyone with the same brush !!

Villain Today, Victim Tomorrow

There is nothing better that the media likes. It likes to launch a vicious attack on a person who is vulnerable (irrespective of whether or not he is guilty), destroy his reputation, dignity, muck him with all the filth possible and once he gives in, it likes to recast him as an unfortunate victim. It tries to portray him as the sacrificial lamb and just a small spoke in the big wheel of this World. It tries to show how the whole system is conspiring against him.

It happened with Sourav Ganguly. When he was in the team not scoring runs, the media were after his head. Once he was dropped, the wheel turned a full cycle. He is now the man who is being made the victim of a witch-hunt, being deliberately plotted against and kept out of the side for purely political reasons. Suddenly Greg Chappell who was being portrayed as the saviour of Indian cricket is now being talked about as being a tyrannic dictator trying to take over the reigns of Indian cricket. It matters not a jot that ever since Ganguly has been out Greg Chappell has done a fantastic job of taking this team to great success.

And now, it has happened to Natwar Singh. After causing him to nearly tear his hair apart due to continuous hounding, now this article in DNA tries to project the not-so-negative side of the man. Agreed, this is just a start. Soon we will start seeing articles about how Natwar was just an unfortunate pawn in the hands of Sonia and Manmohan.

(Cross posted on My Not So Soft Outlook)

So Near Yet So Far

The valiant efforts of Lou Vincent, Chris Cairns, Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum have done down the drain as NZ have lost an absolute nail-biter against the Aussies by 2 runs. One particularly feels for McCullum who had got the side in a winning position where they needed just 4 off 4 balls with 2 wickets in hand. That coming after he had boldly proclaimed that he would take the fight to Lee, his old enemy who has attacked him with beamers several times in the past. In fact, he did the same today, bowled a beamer which was summarily dismissed for FOUR. But Lee went for 84 runs off his 10 overs which should be some consolation after his demonic figures of 3 for 5 off 6 overs the other day.

Btw, the Aussie innings featured a scarcely believable 156 off 120-odd balls by Andrew Symonds. The Clarke Symonds partnership that came together at 101/4 put on 22o in super-quick time - to put things in perspective Aus actually doubled the score they had at the 35-over mark !! (not the 30 over mark as you are usually supposed to) Maybe such an innings did not deserve to be on the losing side. But NZ did not deserve to either. Were they in the end ? Maybe, cricket was the winner after all. But indeed, a tie would have been an appropriate result.

As an aside, who the hell is this new guy Michael Lewis of Australia ? He was the supersub and did splendidly well, picking up 3 wickets and giving just 3 runs in the crucial last over when 6 were needed. What type of bowler is he ? Does he *look* like he has it in him ? Where is he from ? How old is he ?

Lessons to be carried from Chennai to Delni

First, Sehwag's approach was correct. The team would do well to emulate it. The media should stop trying to be too wise and condemn it. It is only with this kind of positive approach have we ever done well and are we ever likely to make good strides. Of course I do ot advocate that all other players play Sehwagesque innings, but definitely, the attitude of looking for every scoring opportunity needs to be imbibed. Especially when the initiative is there to be taken. Of course now that he has been ruled out, it is a major concern. I think this Test is likely to reveal the true character of Gautam Gambhir. I definitely don't mean to say if he fails here, he will prove himself short of character. But a big innings here will be signifcant in the long-term from his career perspective. I would vote for Sourav to open the innings with him. I don't want to disturb the rest of the line-up. Since any runs coming from Sourav will be considered a bonus, there is no harm in sending him atop. The only problem is he will get that many more opportunities to run others out.

Sachin Tendulkar should stop bothering about #35. If it is to come, it will come. He should realize that he is putting too much pressure on himself to get there resultantly harming both himself and the team.

Vaas and Murali in particular need to be attacked early. If they are allowed to settle, it could be the death-knell for India.

Hopefully, Pathan and Agarkar come good. Kumble can always be relied upon.

Jayawardene is a class act and must be treated as such. Just because he flopped big time in the Mickey Mouse version of the game, does not mean he will do so here. I think he should be attacked with spin early in his innings. He is vulnerable to spin then and then only. Particularly, the leg-spinner could cause some problems

India v Sri Lanka Test 1 Day 5 Stumps

Oh my ! What a beautiful innings that from Mahela Jayawardene. Pity, he always chooses to unleash his blinding genius only on us !! He truly showed the way to the more celebrated players like Dravid and Tendulkar on how one is supposed to bat on these wickets. Of course, reports indicate that the wicket did ease out considerably, but I do not want to use that as an excuse. Brilliant Brilliant knock in difficult conditions.

Anil Kumble - The Only Solace:
On a desperately disappointing day, Anil Kumble's bowling was the only solace for India. 3-41 is a very good performance by any standards. It is great that he has gotten back into rhythm so quickly. I really pin my hopes on him to destroy Sri Lanka on his beloved Kotla turf. The bowling of the other bowlers is a bit of a worry.

A Match To Forget - Or Is It ?
For all intents and purposes, India would be looking to quickly to put this match behind them. However, they would be better advised not to do so. For there was a lot to learn from this match. Most importantly, that the Sri Lankans could not be under any circumstances underestimated. More detailed analysis on the match to follow.

They Say Sehwag Lacks Courage !!!

STAR News that infinitely wise news channel yesterday put up an infinitely enlightening program called "Chappell ke Char Shikaar" (Chappell's Four Victims) or something of that sort. Now I usually don't watch such crap even if I have time for it, but yesterday while channel-surfing I just happened to come across it.

Explaining in detail how Viru is on the "hit-list" of Chappell, the channel went on to comment upon his innings yesterday. They said that it was a "poor' innings in which he threw his wicket away (that much is true, granted) and then after taking another couple of potshots talked about how "Veeru has never learnt what courage and grit is all about".

Need I say anything else other than call all this a load of tosh ? Such are Sehwag's achievements that they need no mention even to counter this ridiculous allegations by the fools who make such programs.

Needless to mention, STAR News is an absolute no-no for me from here on, not even by accident while channel-surfing.

India v Sri Lanka Test 1 Day 5 Tea

It is indeed worrying that on a pitch where we struggled so badly, the Sri Lankans are having a gala time. Particularly Sangakarra and more dangerously Mahela Jayawardene. BEWARE OF HIM for the rest of the series. It is indeed lucky that Kumble pulled one back just before the break.

India v Sri Lanka Test 1 Day 5 Lunch

Wow !! Quite a stunning day so far. Sri Lanka absolutely and totally in command.

The Pitch:
Slow, low. Very difficult to score IF THE BOWLERS ARE BOWLING WELL.But then why did we give such a red-carpet welcome to the Sri Lankans by giving them exactly the kind of wicket they thrive on ? Well, maybe the rains in Chennai were to be blamed. In fact, Srinath says that the last time the pitch was exposed was November 10. Naturally there would be some damage due to the covers being on for so long.

The Bowlers:
Yes, indeed the DID BOWL VERY VERY WELL. To put things into perspective at one stage this morning, Vaas had bowled 12 consecutive maiden overs. He also had the first 3 wickets to fall and came back later to pick Kumble. Murali picked up the "big" wicket of Sachin who scored a grand 22 in 21 overs.

The Batsmen:
Helpful as the pitch was to the bowlers and well as they bowled, the batsmen cannot be absolved of all blame. Just as it is up tp the bowlers to take advantage of the wicket, it was up to the batters to destroy the bowlers rhythm. This, they failed in magnificently. And once again, I would like to put a large chunk of the blame on Sachin Tendulkar for this. Dravid wasn't too good either, but then at least his variance from his normal strike rate was not as high as that of Sachin. Well, I would like to know in the context of what happened - how important Sehwag's innings yesterday was. All those "expert" fools who condemned him for his innings yesterday, hope you are eating humble bread now. Sehwag's approach was the right one on this wicket. It almost always is on any wicket.

Ganguly:
Ganguly did nothing great with the bat.He did however for the second time in as many attempts succeed in running out VVS Laxman. I shall leave it at that.

The Inference:
It is a dead game, anyway. So we probably need not be unduly worried about this. In fact, I would say it is a wake-up call delivered exactly when needed, just when we were about to underestimate the Lankans. Now we know we can't. Vaas and Murali will be a threat throughout the series. It was shown that even Sachin Tendulkar was dominated by them.

India v Sri Lanka Test 1 Day 4 Preview

Much better day in Chennai, although the wet outfield means it will take a lot of time to dry. So as things stand now, we are likely to start the game at 3 pm IST and play for 38 overs. Fat lot of good, that is going to do to any team, IMO. But at least we can start talking about final elevens, what to do on winning the toss etc.

There is a theory going around that with this Test being little more than of academic interest we might see a bit of experimentation in the lineup, especially with the fringe players like RP Singh, Kaif and Yuvraj being given a go. Of course, looking at what GC has done it is not beyond the realms of possibility. I do not agree with this policy, because I believe a Test match is a Test match is a Test match and should not be trifled with. However I can understand such a policy without agreeing to it.

Toss:
So what should the captain do on winning the toss ? There have been innumerable theories doing the rounds, most notably on Fourth Umpire on DD where Srikkanth and Mohinder have strongly argued their own cases on what should be done and all the permutations and combinations have been thrashed out.

What should India do ?:
I dunno really. It is evident that we are not gonna get a result here. But if there is a 1 in a million chance it will lie in India bowling out SL for a low total and batting just once. So that suggests maybe we should bowl. But as I said earlier that is, indeed a long shot. Batting first of course, would take out the risk factor of fielders fielding on what is bound to be not the best possible outfield. There is also this theory of whom you want to give a run. If it's your batsmen that need the time, bat and similarly with the bowlers. I don't think that is going to make too much of a difference here. True some of the batsmen are out of touch, but then they are all experienced. Pathan and Bhajji are in fine form, but we want to test Agarkar at this level as well as give Kumble a chance to get back into his groove after a break, so it is tuf to make a choice based on that.

What is Sri Lanka likely to do ?:
I think they will bat. Their batsmen are in far greater need of a good outing in the middle than us. If they do, we should try our best to dent their confidence by picking a few quick wickets.

Conclusion:
It might just be a good toss to lose !!!

India v Sri Lanka Test 1 Day 3

Another washout. And really, chances of any play look bleak now. Yesterdy the sun shone in the day but it poured again at night and the umpires had the easiest job in the World all day to call off play first thing in the morning. Who knows what is to happen tomorrow ? It hasn't rained *much* today but it has been cloudy. Not good for the puddles on the outfield to dry. And who's to say it won't rain again ?

Pakistan's Brilliance

I mentioned in an earlier post how it was Pakistan's brilliance at crucial moments in the series that has resulted it going in their favour 2-0. Just to expand further on that. We knew that Pakistan could always produce moments of brilliance. Especially their amazing knack of causing a collapse out of nowhere the moment one wicket fell. That was exactly what they did both in Multan and in Lahore.

But the difference this time was that brilliance was complemented by methodical, meticulous hard work. For large amounts of time in the games, for days, in fact for all but the decisive sessions, Pakistan fought. There were times when they fought a losing battle, most notably in Multan, times when they fought from the front (like in Lahore) times when they fought on par. But importantly, they fought on. England never surrendered until Pak finally produced that moment of brilliance when they were simply outclassed.

Which is why, I strongly disagree with those slamming the English performance. Because I honestly think they didn't play too badly, in fact, played good solid cricket and matched Pakistan for long periods of time. It was only at those aforementioned decisive turns that they were left with no answers.

It is no problem competing with teams who produce such moments without backing it up with all the hard work. Hence, Pakistan never really seemed invincible like Australia. But now that they have got an ideal mix of the two, they could turn out to be extremely tough opponents. Of course, it remains to be seen how long this will last.

I haven't really thought too much as yet about India's tour there, but I remain fairly confident. ;-)

From The Sri Lankan Camp

Arjuna Ranatunga, that grumpy old man is still ranting in his Cricinfo columns. We know how displeased he was at the venues Sri Lanka got for the ODIs. (God knows why) Who can forget the way he preached to us about how we should treat our heroes and give more attention to Sourav Ganguly ? Oh poor deprived Sourav ! Anyway, now he seems to suggest that breaking up Sri Lanka's tour had more to do with the Indian Board trying to maximize its revenues and manipulate its election results to its own advantage (pray what does he really mean to say ? What does he know about Indian politics and how does he think they had anything to with Sri Lanka's itinerary that was decided months before ? and why should that be a problem anyway ?)

He goes on to warn India not to take the Lankans lightly. One point that he makes which is for a change a good one, is that Murali will be bowling long spells and hence we will not afford to just see him off. In the ODI series, we did just that. And several of our batsmen including Dravid were just a little bit troubled by him.

Finally, if we thought the Indians had gone raging mad about Ganguly what with the West Bengal CM making veiled threats to the selectors, now the President of Sri Lanka is thinking about ordering an inquiry into the axing of Sanath Jayasuriya !!! OMG !!!

India v Sri Lanka Test 1 Day 2

Another day washed out completely. Another wait for Sourav. It was to be expected, however with the weakening of Baaz, the cyclone and much less rain in the last 12 hours or so, I feel optimistic that we will get some play in this Test. And though it is not going to be enough to get a result, I think it is crucial to get the series started. So we cannot afford to relax.

Dumbstruck

I have been dumbstruck by Pakistan's fantastic performance to win the series 2-0 against England. Quite honestly, before the series started such a result was beyond my capacity of imagination. I expected a very close series, yes. I expected say a 1-1 draw, I had predicted that I would give England the edge to take the series. But I never expected Pakistan to take it by 2 matches. 1-0 I could have understood, thanks to an inspiring performance. But 2-0 is just comprehensive.

Mind you, I still maintain that England did not play badly. For long periods, consistently, they played GOOD cricket. Both the first and last Test was won by Pakistan really in one session. Not meaning to sound too critical, I know Pak *dominated* this test virtually throughout, but quite honestly it looked like a draw until lunch today. Osman Samiuddin on Cricinfo sums it up perfectly when he says the difference between the two sides was that Pakistan could produce moments of brilliance when most needed.

So, after 2 years Pakistan win a test series. First time under Woolmer and Inzy. And I am happy for them. Also happy that Shoaib Akhtar whom I was extremely harsh upon prior to the series came good. That too happened after two years. Coincidence ? Anyway, will probably write more about that later.

I think it is going to be a huge challenge when we tour Pak next year, and I keenly look forward to it. Note: I remain confident of our team !!

India v Sri Lanka Day 1

So, officially play has been washed out for the day. It looked initially that we might get a little bit in, but around 10.30 IST the Baaz showered its blessings upon the Chidambaram and that, as they say was that. If it rains in this manner much longer, it is extremely likely that tomorrow will be washed out even if it clears by then.

We will have to keep waiting then for the suspense over Ganguly's inclusion in the squad to be over. From what has transpired in the last two days, it is likely that Sourav will in fact take the field. Yuvraj will have to wait.

Also, the wet weather will imply that the captain who wins the toss is likely to opt to bowl first, not just out of respect to conditions, but also because the stop-start nature of the game is likely to make batting difficult. Hence, we will opt for a third seamer and that implies Ganguly will play.

India Cricket "Expert" Opinions Nugget 1

Prejudice: Yuvraj will flop miserably in Test cricket, particularly against spin.

Chennai Weather

Keeping a tab on it. The cyclone brewing in the Bay of Bengal is threatening to strike overnight. (Btw check out the exact difference between a cyclone, a hurricane and a tornado. Ah I'm sure many of you knew it, but it was always bothering me, so)

Anyway forecasts are conflicting, as expected. Some say, the storm might strike at night, do a bit of damage on Day 1 and leave us in peace for the rest of the days. Others say it is "stationary" in the Bay of Bengal and will probably make a move once the match starts.

I have the feeling that we will get *some* play. CNN forecasts thunderstorms for the first 4 days at least and weather.com forecasts a 60% chance of rain on each of these with a 40% one on the last day.

Meanwhile here is a link for the latest live weather in Chennai. Looks fine in the webcam picture. But as in other places there is a contradiction here, too. The icon in the top right says "Rain" while the actual measured rainfall over the last many hours reads 0.0.

Btw, this cyclone seems a pretty deadly one. Today, even in Pune the weather has been cloudy and threatening to rain since morning.