HIP HIP HOORAY !!

A 3-1 series win over Pak in Pak !!

Congratulations TEAM INDIA !!

Well done to the Dravid-Chappell combo !!

More to follow ...

Match 3 Review and Match 4 Preview

Oh what a fantastic victory !! This has to rank up there with the 2 back to back wins at Lahore 2 years ago. Great ! Now we have beaten Pak in Lahore 3 times in a row.

The highlight of the day was of course Sachin Tendulkar's wonderful innings. As I mentioned in an earlier post this has got to be one of his best innings in recent times. Not just because it took India to victory but because of the quality of the strokeplay. This was just the kind of innings we had been missing from Sachin for a long time - chasing a big total under pressure. Today he clearly outshone Dravid in their partnership as well a fact jumped on by mediamen and bloggers with alarming haste.

Anyway, Sachin's innings alone would have been insufficient. It also took a masterpiece from Yuvraj and an unbelievable finishing act from Dhoni to seal it. Unfortunately I could not quite see the Dhoni - Yuvi partnership but it must have been absolute treat to watch.

So can we wrap it up at Multan ? I tend to think Pak will bounce back with a bang injuries notwithstanding. But I do believe we have a fine side which can take Pak on even at their best now. I would say a very difficult call to make. Head says Pak may have the edge in this one but of course the heart beats for India.

The First Blow Struck ??

Should we consider India's thumping win over England in the U19 World Cup (abject humiliation as Cricinfo likes to put it) as a sign of things to come in the upcoming England series ??

Of course not, I realise. It is a nice boost though. It is as if our boys have shown what they are capable of and that should have shaken the English just a bit while giving our men confidence.

Well done kids. Now onto the final.

A Poem on Tendulkar

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

Tendulkar's Best

There has been an uproar and justifiably so in the media about Tendulkar's wonderful innings yesterday so I thought it apt to note down a few of Tendulkar's memorable innings in recent times - once that I really appreciated. In chronological (or anti-chronological) order:

95 v Pak Lahore 2006
93 v SL Nagpur 2005
141 v Pak Pindi 2004
102 v NZ Hyderabad 2003
98 v Pak Centurion 2003

Question

For all you bloggers out there how do you go about writing a review of a match ?? I find it a tricky task indeed, although it sounds quite simple, for a cricket expert. Funnily I find it easier to write a piece on statistical analysis or expound some idea or criticize/analyze something abstract say a player's form, a strategy, a team's run than a 7-hour long day of cricket.

The reason I believe is that most people already know what has happened. So essentially what I try to bring out is some points that are not entirely obvious. But these needs to be done in keeping with the flow of the game. Plus one needs to make sure one does not go overboard with one's ideas and drift away from the actual game.

I noticed this while writing the review yesterday. I had all my points sorted out, yet when I sat down to write often I felt I was drifting away and rambling on. Any ideas, co-experts ??

India v Pakistan Match 2 Review, Match 3 Preview

Such is the lopsided nature of the scheduling for this ODI series, that while the yawning gap between the first 2 matches made you wonder whether there were transportation problems in Pakistan, these back to back matches will give a lazy bum like me the ideal opportunity to combine the review of one and the preview of another.

Let me admit at the onset, that India's victory at Rawalpindi came as a huge relief to me as I'm sure it would have to the Indian team. I did mention that I expected India to rise to the occasion, nevetherless, the victory though not unexpected is extremely significant. For the obvious reasons - the difficulty of bouncing back from a 0-2 deficit, the fact that India had yet to win a game on this tour and the impatient and fickle nature of the common Indian fan. Not for them the fact that basically the first ODI was an extremely close affair and that Pakistan had beaten India less over a whole test series than in one innings.

So coming to the match, I think Shoaib Malik's run out was the turning point of the match. Sreesanth's throw from the deep was fantastic. More on the lad, later, but at that point of view Pak seemed to be cruising along destined for a 300 score. That in itself was thanks to a pretty average display by India in the field and with the ball. Indeed India's performance in the field was extremely spiky - long periods of listlessness interspersed by moments of brilliance. Pathan got India off to a great start by picking up Butt but Sreesanth oscillated between extremely encouraging and disappointing to leak a few runs. But overall he bowled with a lot of heart and skill and very little luck. But Pathan brought India right back with the wicket of Akmal and the suicide of Yousouf and the soft dismissal of Inzy put India decidedly on top.

It could have been so much better had Shoaib Malik not chosen to kick the ball and all concepts of sportsmanship and the spirit of the game away. Man, this is the team who talked about sporting behavior just 2 days ago and that **$#*#)q*^)^#$%& comes up with such a pitiably pathetic display !! If that was not cheating at its worst I dont know what is. This guy better stay away from me or I'm likely to do him grievous bodily harm and I don't care if I sound too crude or unsophisiticated here.

I wonder if after the Inzy incident in the last game the Indians chose to act with more restraint because I was pretty sure Yuvraj wanted to appeal, but Dravid asked him to let it go. Indeed fitting that Malik should miss out on his hundred and that his team should go on to lose. This was not the only controversial incident though - there were incidents of missile throwing at Ajit Agarkar in this game and Irfan Pathan in the last one. Maybe the hospitality of the Pakistanis was limited to just 1 series and is beginning to get run out here ??

So Malik got poetically run out for 95 but India were still looking at a mountain to climb where arrogance cost Afridi his wicket. Some sections of the Pakistani crowd were demanding that Afridi show no mercy to the Indians and in particular Pathan (I stress on particular) because let's face it being a Muslim and a Pathan at that these issues tend to be more sensitive. It was indeed great to see Pathan obtain revenge. That's this X-factor about this guy that I like. He was not quite at his best in this game (as indeed this entire tour) yet he manages to deliver the crucial punch more often than most. All 3 wickets today were EXTREMELY vital and though he bowled pretty average stuff in between, his Man of the Match was well-deserved.

But Pakistan's endless list of all-rounders meant that the Indians couldn't afford to relax even with Afridi back in the pavillion and the wicket of Razzaq was also very crucial. The direct hit from Raina was a beauty - though the throw in itself was relatively simple, it needed to be a direct one. The off side cordon really looks very strong these days with Yuvraj, Kaif and Raina and that is likely to be a great asset for India come the World Cup. I mean seriously this could be one of the best off-sided fields in the World. Oh what an irony that India should boast of a fielding talent among the best in the business !!

And these youngsters are not just brilliant fielders but extremely confident ambitious kids - the India shining generation kids who love to give back as they get it. As I said Yuvraj was eager to appeal for the Malik kicking incident and when that pain in India's back Younis finally got out jumping around the crease the way Kaif jumped up imitating him was a fantastic thing to see. Having said that India does need to find a way to tackle Younis Khan. I refuse to believe he is as good a player as his scores suggest and that he has no weakness. There must be one. We just have been unable to find it. Something for Dravid and Chappell to ponder.

Talking of Dravid and Chappell I thought some of the captaincy today was pretty disappointing, in particular the way he allowed Malik and Younis cheap singles early in their innings. Then the idea of putting a slip towards the end overs was also befuddling. I am all for attacking new batsmen but honestly no bowler ever looked likely to take an edge on this wicket. It seemed more like a bowled/lbw kind of wicket at least once the ball lost its shine. So this slip fielder was not only wasted it put extra pressure on the likes of Sreesanth to keep the ball way outside off thus negating his chances of attacking the stumps.

265 was a reasonable total but one which needed a good start. Sehwag and Tendulkar did just that. After a long time I was very happy with Sachin's innings. I liked this innings much better than that 100 and Im glad he proved my pessimistic predictions wrong. Perhaps I should keep making them more often. The best part of Tendulkar's innings was the quality of the strokeplay. The lofted off drive off Asif was a class act - a statement that the Master had finally come to terms with the challenge posed by the young tyro. Also the hook off Rana Naved was pure delight to watch.

Great as Sachin's innings was the knockout punch was delivered by Sehwag very early on, delivered perhaps so hard that he had to sacrifice his shoulder for that but with that 6 and the carnage that followed in the rest of Rana Naved's over he put Pakistan completely on the backfoot. Surprisingly they never tried to hit back and just hoped for the mistakes which never really came. In fact it was a surprise Pak chose to field first given the records of the 2 sides particularly India in recent times. Perhaps he was looking for the wicket to turn, perhaps he was counting on a better batting performance. But it was a move that backfired big time.

Sehwag's dismissal was a fluke, nothing more and by that time the platform had been well set. Extremely nice for Veeru to get a score though. After all, the vultures had been circling round him for no real reason - after all he had scored at 30+ at a strike rate of 85 for the entire home season which is pretty close to what Gilchrist does anyway.

Then Messrs. Reliable Dravid and Yuvraj batted with such calm and composure that victory was very much a formality right from the start of their partnership. This has been a career-making tour for Yuvi as far as the test spot goes and probably will establish him as the single most important ODI player in the lineup finally occupying the coveted #4 spot and deservedly so.

It has been a rather long review and left me with very little time to actually go ahead with the promised preview of the match starting in less than 80 minutes. Ill just say here that Lahore is likely to be another belter so I expect a 290-ish score. I back India to win, to carry the momentum, mostly batting second again. Sehwag will not play and this might sound surprising but I dont think it will be too much of a bother because the beauty of this new look Indian team is that everyone is willing to contribute to make up for someone else on a particular day. That has been evident not just in these 2 games but the entire home season. I hope Gambhir comes up with a good knock which he is capable of.

Also looking forward to seeing Sreesanth progress even more.

U19 World Cup Results

Well Australia might have suffered at the hands of Sri Lanka in their own backyard but they can take solace from the fact that their colts have returned the favor to their counterparts by thrashing SL in the quarterfinals of the U19 WC.

The other results include England getting past Bangladesh, Pakistan past Zimbabwe and yes of course India defeating the West Indies. Piyush Chawla has as expected been great in the series but on the whole the entire Indian team has lived up to its favorites tag.

So the semifinal lineup now reads:
India v England
Pakistan v Australia

Dejavu anyone ??

BRILLIANT !!

They have done it !!

Australia have lost a home final for the first time since 1998.

Magnificent performance by the Lankans especially Tillekaratne Dilshan in the field.

GO Lankans GO.

The job is only half done.

India v Pakistan Match 2 Preview

This is a must-win game for India. Quite frankly, I do not see this team being able to bounce back from a 0-2 deficit. It has been done by Pak as late as last year but even then it was a 6 match series. In a 5 match series I believe it has been done only once before although coincidentally against Pakistan in Pakistan by South Africa a couple of seasons ago.

Anyway, I do think India, if given the option would prefer to bowl first. This I say without even knowing too much of the wicket simply because that has been the favored way for India this season. Ever since Rahul Dravid took over, India have never lost a game chasing and have hardly won a game defending - a record very similar to Michael Vaughan at the start of his career as captain.

Coincidence or not Irfan Pathan has always bowled MUCH better when India has been fielding first than when defending a target. And that has often paved the way for India to set up a victory. Also I have this feeling that Rawalpindi will likely not be a 325 pitch like Peshawar. That would play to India's advantage especially if they field first.

I predict that Tendulkar will fail in at least 2 of the next 3 games and this will very likely be one of them. In fact it is highly probable that he will get a single digit score here. If not here then one of the next 2 games. Nothing against him, this is just a prediction based on close observation of his career.

Finally, I think India will manage to pull off this game. It is likely to be a reasonably modest scoring game.

Aussies 3-1 Favorites But Scared

The Aussies are worrried, make no mistake. Yesterday it was Hussey expressing wariness about playing Sri Lanka in Adelaide and Sydney, and now it is the turn of Ricky Ponting.

Although the article boldly states that he will go for an all-out attack against Sri Lanka, there are certain indications that make you feel that the Aussies are just a wee bit worried like.

It's important we start the game off well, they're a very good front-running side and when they get started they can be hard to peg back with bat and ball so we've got to start really well.

Also he states the obvious when he says:
"Looking at the way they've played their cricket, the toss is going to be pretty important because they'll want to bat first."

You cannot quite imagine this Sri Lankan team winning a match chasing a total. In particular you cannot imagine them winning in any way other than the tried and tested and oft repeated formula of big-total-slow-wickets-choking-bowlers. But at the same time give them these conditions and they are very likely to make them count as they did in Sydney earlier against Australia and against South Africa a couple of times.

For years, I have been hoping to see a team beat Australia in the VB Series finals. The last time it happened was in 1993 against the West Indies. Twice since then, 1996-97 (Pak vs WI) and 2001-02 (SA v NZ) they have been knocked out before the final, but never have they LOST IN A FINAL. Pakistan came close last year, India flattered to deceive the year before. Can the youngest of the subcontinental brothers go one step ahead and beard the lion in its own den ??

Cricinfo edits out English translation of obscenity, leaves the original intact

We have been accustomed to sportsmen using abusive language in their native tongues to escape scrutiny at major sporting events but now it seems former cricketers will get away with it being published at Cricinfo, the World's leading cricket portal.

Check out this article.
Towards the bottom it mentions Javed Miandad's comments on what Asif is likely to do England.
In short here it is:

What they say No. 2 - Javed Miandad, on Asif's prospects at Headingley later this year
- ("He will blow the a*****es of the English")

Maut Wohi Jo Duniya Dekhe Ghut Ghut Kar Yun Marna Kya ??

Funny that this rather innocuous article about Graham Thorpe and his plans with New South Wales should remind me of this rather forceful yet beautiful line from the evergreen Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya of the legendary Mughal-e-Azam.

But then there it is. I tend to exaggerate. OK, coming to the point. I have always been a huge fan of Graham Thorpe. Trust me I am not a huge fan of too many English batsmen, well not of the 90s era anyway. But I always admired Thorpe as much for his compact skilful batting as his determination and ability to come up with a big show when the chips were down.

So I was extremely disappointed when he was omitted from the England squad for the Ashes. And I was even more disappointed when he retired in a huff because honestly after the Lords debacle I believed he stood a chance of making a comeback. I would have loved to see him there at Trent Bridge guiding England's historic chase of 130, there at the Oval on the last day in partnership with Pietersen. It seems tragic that such a great servant of England, a veteran of many a famous battles should have to bow out just before the moment of triumph which he would have been awaiting probably more than anyone else. The hurt there would have surely been immense. What I wanted was for him to go out in a blaze of glory.

But now as this article suggests he is limping out - first announcing his retirement from international cricket, then from first class cricket in England, then playing the role of a coach in NSW possibly playing a couple of games if he gets an opportunity ... and what's worse he seems to be enjoying this ... come on Thorpey ... we know you deserved better.

Several Steps Forward, One Step Back

The BP XI squad to face England has several promising inclusions and one glaring omission. The negative being the abscence of Piyush Chawla, the most exciting teenage prospect since well, The Master himself. For a fleeting moment I almost gave the selectors full marks when I thought that Chawla's abscence had more to do with his playing in the Under 19 World Cup, sadly that is not the case. That tournament is ending a good 4 days before the start of this match, and unless the selectors deem that Piyush will be in need of some rest, it has to be assumed that the selectors dont consider him ready for the big stage yet.

Now to the several positives: The pace attack looks really exciting - Munaf and VRV will fight it out for the tearaway bowler's slot, with Sreesanth also finding a place, along with the Bengali military medium pacer, SS Paul. Gambhir, Jaffer, Raina, Rao, Jadhav are the batsmen in contention and no one will grudge them their well-deserved spots. The one I am not sure about is the selection of Badrinath over his team-mate Badani (who has always for some reason gotten a raw deal) and perhaps Abhishek Jhunjhunwala.

Pragyan Ojha is the wild-card, of whom I hate to admit, I know zilch. If anyone does, please fill me up.

If anything looks weak, then it is the spin department. As mentioned earlier Chawla's abscence is at best baffling, at worst diabolical. What has Mishra done all this season ?? Is Ramesh Powar really an attacking option ?? Is this the best we have got ?? What about Lahiri from Bengal ??

As usual questions arise, but on the whole a fairly good job by More and Co.

Justice Done

Ramesh Powar has been included in the squad as cover for Harbhajan Singh. Cover for Harbhajan he may be, but honestly he should have easily made it over the consistent failure that is the legend of Murali Karthik. Please let us not see Karthik again come Friday night.

Did Long Drinks Break Cost India ?

According to this report in Cricinfo the third drinks break was "unusually" long resulting in a 2-over delay by India (20% fine for Dravid and 10% for the rest of the team) but more importantly did it deny India a shot at trying to win the match ?

Brilliant Lanka Set Up Date With Aussies

Often in the recent past, I have commended a good Sri Lankan performance. This is mainly because they get my sympathy because they are usually lambasted around pretty unfairly in the Indian cricket fan circles. Plus, maasochists love to take the opportunity of disrespecting India's strong 6-1 home series win over Sri Lanka under the able leadership of Dravid and Chappell, by claiming that it was, well, over Sri Lanka.

Well, this will hopefully show them. It is no mean feat to make it to the final of the tri series edging out a team as strong as South Africa, even more so when you have lost 3-1 in NZ and 6-1 in India just before. They have earned the right to challenge the Aussies and my best wishes are with them. Hope they can pull off their best performance. Hope Murali can dig deep to find that last bit of inspiration so that when he plays possibly his last match on Aussie grounds he would have silenced those foolish spectators (nay rowdies) with a match-winning performance. Hope the old fox Jayasuriya can conjure up a magical 100 for one last time. Hope that that immensely likeable bloke Marwan Atapattu can leave the Aussie shores victorious.

Thoughts added later:
On a related note, this guy Bandara seems to have something about him. Maybe SL have finally discovered a spinner worthy of partnering Murali.

We Will Miss You Gilo !!

Ashley Giles will not be touring India.

We will miss his good old self, his "I am no Shane Warne" - esque epoch-making discoveries, his columns full of courageous self-defence in the face of media attack, last but not least his negative bowling.

Something for Dravid to Ponder

India's 2 heaviest defeats (in terms of runs) in its Test cricket history have come under Rahul Dravid's captaincy.

1) By 342 runs

2) By 341 runs

The Darkest Cloud ...

... yeah all that stuff. Well, what do you know ?? It might indeed be true.

In the despair and gloom of India's shabby surrender to Pakistan, Yuvraj's grand century stands out like a beacon, like a diamond amidst the coals, like a Brian Lara amidst the rest of the West Indies.

Indeed, so breathtaking is Yuvi's batting and in particular yesterday's innings that I am tempted to say the strokeplay was almost Laraesque in nature. The hooked six off Razzaq was a shot to be remembered for a long long time. In all my cricket watching career I have never seen any Indian batsman other than Tendulkar hit a six like that. (Incidentally that is one shot Lara does not quite play so well)

But that was just one of the many handsome shots on display. The garland of drives from square point to mid wicket off both front and back foot punched crisply was a beauty in itself. Particularly encouraging was the way he handled Kaneria.

Yes, he does have some problems with his balance, in particular tends to put too much weight on his front foot at times and is a bit shaken up sometimes by Akhtar's pace but hey who doesnt have his weaknesses ??

I do think this is not an insignificant little relief act in a tragedy of Titanic proportions. On the contrary it is a harbinger to what I think is going to be a long career at #4 for one of India's most naturally gifted stroke-makers since the incumbent #4 himself. And that in turn will go a long way in shaping Team India's fortunes over the next 10 years.