Really Like This Guy

I really admire Kamran Akmal's batting. Often he has come in at very critical situations and virtually taken the game away from the opposition. The frustration at Mohali last year had only just begun to sink in, while he has come up with another gem here in Karachi.

For all the mountains of meaningless runs, piled on by the likes of Younis and Yousouf, it is this innings that is likely to be the most crucial of the series.

I think Dhoni has some way to go before becoming coming to Akmal's level

The Moment Of Truth

... has arrived for Sourav Ganguly. He has got exactly the kind of opportunity he would have been hoping for. To prove he can still make a difference to this Indian side, to make the kind of contributions no one else can. A hundred, if he had got one in the run-glut at Lahore would have probably meant nothing, but a hundred here can virtually ensure a decent first innings lead for India, and that all that has happened in the past 5 months is history. It will probably also signal his reuniting with his best friend Rahul Dravid ala estranged brothers coming together in Hindi movies. For the stakes simply cannot get bigger than this.

On the other hand, a failure here will almost certainly signal the end of his career.

Will Ganguly be up to it ??

Will, as Siddharth Vaidyanathan on Cricinfo asks, there be a romantic twist to this fascinating tale ??

1 Minute Of Pure Joy

Sitting at home pretty depressed and what happens is in a cricket forum I visit often a guy called sahir provides this link.

Oh for a cricket buff that just takes your mind off from all the mundane issues of this drab life, you suddenly realize all you are thirsting for is another retake of another grand Azharuddin innings.

If you are in India and are unable to view click here.

It's Happened Again !!

Shoaib Akhtar's ankle injury has mysteriously resurfaced and he is likely to miss the last test. WOW. Am I surprised or what ??

Come to think of it, completing one test series in the last 3 years should be quite satisfactory for his Highness, ain't it ?? Why bother completing another one.

This can only be good news for Pakistan and bad for India. After all, any team would love to play a bowler who has talked all the talk and refused to walk the walk for over 3 years against them now. Now India have to face the daunting prospect of a fired up Umar Gul instead.

Meanwhile, reportedly the coach Bob Woolmer is at sea as to why Shoaib did not bowl more than he did in the match. Maybe he conveniently injured Shoaib before the Karachi test ?? After all, they are best mates aren't they ?? Together they will do whatever they can for the betterment of the Pakistani team ?? It's all fair in love and war ain't it ??

Good On You Lankans

Sri Lanka beat Australia at the SCG. Remember them doing the same back in 2003 too. For a team that had lost 9 out of 10 matches not long ago, winning 3 off their last 4, 2 of which were against Australia and South Africa is brilliant.

Wonderful 100 by the 36-year old Marauder from Matara. The old fox still has it in him.

Note: Phil Jacques was dropped despite a wonderful debut the other day. No effigy burning or protests reported.

Faisalabad Facts

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 SachinTendulkarFans

India Squad Composition

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 SachinTendulkarFans

India v Pak Second Test Preview

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.

Hmm ... Some guy this

Just having a look at the cricinfo profile of Brett Dorey, the new Aussie fast bowler.

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/5112.html

In particular, note the following:

He represented Western Australia at Under-17 and Under-19 level in 1995 and 1997 before heading to Europe on a travelling adventure, where he worked as a bodyguard to the children of a wealthy Russian businessman

It's Not So Easy In ODIs !!

Debut centuries are pretty frequent in Tests these days. Not so in ODIs. Just look at that stats and they tell an astonishing tale.

In 1781 tests, 45 batsmen have scored debut hundreds at the rate of one almost every 40 tests.

In 2316 ODIs, the corresponding figure is only 4 - at an astounding rate of one every 579 ODIs !!

Why this imbalance ?? Any guesses ??

Well I guess in ODIs with the over restriction only the openers or Number 3 or 4 realistically have a chance of scoring a hundred unless the team has lost lots of early wickets and for a debutant to score a hundred keeping up with the rate all the time while the team has lost wickets could well be a severely daunting proposition.

Good Stuff

Finally !! A win for Sri Lanka !! Must do their confidence a lot of good ahead of a as-tough-as-it-can-get VB series.

I feel bad for them, they are going through a real lean time and I know well how it feels to be in the middle of that only too well.

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."