IPL Time

It is yet another IPL season, and this time it is South Africa who have got the opportunity to show case the biggest cricketing event, only next to the world cups. Not sure, whether even the last T20 world cup churned out so many spectators and so much fanfare. Yesterday featured the Match-10 of the tournament and man, what a finish. It was the first nail biting and dramatic end of any match played so far. Even the Chennai-Delhi match's fate was decided, once Freddie got out. Anyway, the tournament is underway and each team has a long way to go. 

If Lalit Modi had to battle with the Indian Government to get security clearance, he has to fight a different battle here. It is with the rain gods. Not a single day passes, without an inherent threat with the heavens opening up. My much awaited show off between Sachin and Shane was a disaster. Not a single ball was bowled. Hope, we get to see a battle Royale between the two again.

I am trying my best to write before each match, analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the teams playing on that day. Anyway, it is much better than doing a post mortem analysis. 

Today Yuvraj's Kings XI Punjab are taking on Bangalore Royal Challengers. The RC guys have got it completely wrong after their first shocking victory against Rajasthan. Other than Rahul Dravid, nobody seems to be in any kind of a form, let alone score some big runs. The inclusion of Jesse and Ross from the Kiwi camp hasn't brought any result so far. Poor Mallya, somebody seems to be ill advising him. KP, the co-owner of the costliest player tag is yet to make any impact with the bat. He has only managed to get a warning for showing dissent. Poor fellow, the ghosts of the Indian and West Indian tours are still haunting him. Poor guy, tries too much to emulate Shane Warne in leading a bunch of players with lot of star value.

I think Ray Jennings has got some kind of an inclination towards South African players, otherwise, who would prefer Kallis over Cameroon White. Poor White could neither gain the confidence of Australians. A T20 specialist brought to India to play test matches, just for the credential that he can turn the ball 2 inches, his confidence shattered, now he finds his place only in the RC dug out. 

Robin Uthappa is yet another flop so far. He has no clue of how to play the moving ball. Could only wack some air with the bat and when he finds the ball in the middle of the bat, oh boy, he finds some fielder as well. 

The only glimmering hope for RC is Dravid, a big surprise for everyone but not for me. He is atleast living upto thinking that Test cricketers can still play T20 better. Think he is a making a statement to 20 world cup probables. But what could he possibly do, when half of the team is back in the dug out and he is expected to dig the team out of danger. A typical role for him, but he doesn't have the luxury to get his toe clamped to the crease as in a test match. The match ends before he begins to cut lose. May be, he should be playing a parallel game before coming to the middle. 

As of today, Bangalore Chennai and Kolkatta all sail the same boat. Played 3, won 1, lost 2. If RC wins this match, they get pushed into the top 4. They have to do some serious changes at the top of the order. Open with someone like Virat Kohli. If someone with a stature of Parthiv Patel can whack Dale Steyn for a Six, Kohli could atleast clear the infield and scamper for a two.Bring Uthappa at the end. He would be happy not to play the boomeranging ball. Bring in Dravid at No.3. That is the position beat suited for him and the team as well. Kallis should make way for Cameroon White. No need to play him even after KP had left for international duty. Jennings can learn at least one thing from the Davis Cup.  'Non-playing captain'. A toss could decide between Jesse and Ross. I prefer Jesse over Ross, for he has taken some wickets. The only bowling hope for RC is Dale Steyn. 

Punjab team can be written off from the contest. Other than Ravi Bopara and Yuvraj, nobody promises. Their bowling is in pieces. I think somebody had done a reverese encouragement of Irfan Pathan by pipping him to be the next Wasim Akram. Poor guy, he took this wrong advice and gave up his swing bowling. Today, he is not even a shadow of what he was 3 years ago.

Let us see, what happens tonight. 

The Joy of Watching a Sachin Tendulkar Century

Watching cricket being played in New Zealand had always been demanding. Until the last tour of India, it had required lot of mental toughness, as India had always failed to conquer this part of the cricketing world. It also requires loss of sleep. Having worked non-stop for more than 10 days, my body badly wanted some rest. But my mind had other priorities. Before the start of this tour itself, I had believed that this Indian team is far better than the other Indian teams that visited this nice beautiful country on the eastern most part of the world. Even though the T20 games were a bit of a disappointment, the ODI's provided much needed relief and the icing on the cake was the winning of the series, the first ever by any Indian team.

But test cricket in the Kiwi country had always been a tough proposition. New Zealand had always great bowlers and some one or the other would turn up for the team every time. Richard Hadlee, Ivan Chatfield, Shane Bond, Danny Morrison, Shane Bond Darryl Tuffey had always proved nemesis to the visiting Indian team. Even the umpires had also contributed to a great extent to New Zealand's victories. But that was not the case in this tour. Having bundled the New Zealand batsmen under 300, Indian batsmen didn't have much of a threat from any of the New Zealand bowlers. Despite getting some good movement in the air, the New Zealand bowlers offered no threat to the in-form batsmen. What wouldn't fascinate a die-hard cricket fan than a good solid batting display and add to that a convincing Sachin Tendulkar Ton.

Sachin Tendulkar over the past few years had always played second fiddle to other players. He had been assigned the job of making other batsmen play around him. This was the role that Rahul Dravid had done splendidly throughout his cricketing career. Even if Tendulkar had scored a decent score, it was overshadowed by some other batsman's charismatic batting. Be it the century he scored against Australia at Sydney and Adelaide or the one he got in Nagpur, there were other things in the match that subdued Sachin's innings. 

But in this innings of Sachin, we could see the vintage Sachin who would destroy the opposition bowlers. The best of the shots was the backfoot punch in the region between point and cover. It is not an easy shot to play, considering the bounce of the wicket and Sachin's small stature. Make small mistake, the ball would loop in the air, offering an easy chance for the fielders in the slip or at point. But that was not the case when Tendulkar plays it  with so much of authority. Other than the life he was provided when being at 15, it was a blemishless innings, with an air of authority and class. 

If he had  rotated the strike, gave more strike to the likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni et al in the ODIs, he held his innings beautifully and forced Yuvi and Dhoni to rotate the strike. After a long time, Sachin had played the innings to his terms, instead of the guy at the other end. 

Despite having worked for more than 12 hours for 10 consecutive days, I just couldn't resist the desire of watching Tendulkar's innings even if it required to lose some sleep and get up at 3 in the early morning. The joy of watching of a Sachin Tendulkar's century is just uncomparable. I can atleast proudly say that I had been a witness to each run that Sachin scored to reach his 42nd Test Ton.

Cricket's Blackest Day

Until recently, I had held the Trevor Chappel's infamous under-arm bowling to New Zealand as the blackest day for Cricket. It involved only Cricketers. Cricket has suffered a lot, Starting the Kerry Packer's rebel Australian Cricket, South Africa alienated from International Cricket for practising apartheid, non-Asian cricketing teams declining to visit Sri Lanka in the 1996 world cup, Pakistan unable to host any series due to the American war in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan not touring each other for more than a decade, due to cross-border terrorism and the list goes on. 

Only very recently, did Pakistan began to host visiting cricketing teams despite the New Zealand cricket team, narrowly escaped a deadly bomb blast in the hotel in which they had stayed. England had to abandon the Indian One Day International series, due to the terrorist attack in Mumbai and even the Champions League Trophy was also abandoned due to the attack. But, never had the cricketers been in the direct line of fire. Never had they been attacked or victimised, until today, when terrorists began opening fire on the Sri Lankan cricket team.

India should have toured Pakistan, earlier this year. But for the Mumbai terrorist attacks, even the central Government, without assessing the security arrangements would have given a go ahead for the Pakistan tour. Let us not forget, the Indian Cricket team, had just been to Pakistan to play the ICC Asia Cup tournament.

Cricketers are better prepared to face deadly beemars from fast bowlers, but certainly not the bullets from a terrorists guns. After all, what do the terrorists want is nobody's guess. When a country like India had declined to tour on security grounds (this is the official reason given, if not this is the real reason), what is the compulsion for Sri Lanka to arrange for a tour in the last moment? The claim by the Sri Lankan Cricket board is that the board stands to gain 10 million USD with this tour. Aren't the lives of the cricketers more precious? 

With this dastardly act of terror, Pakistan stands to lose a long way. The ICC champions trophy, which was supposed to have been held in 2008 was postponed to 2009. But now, it wouldn't be held in Pakistan. No Cricketing team would Pakistan until today's incidents remain in their minds. Pakistan is a co-host of the 2011 World Cup. The ICC has already begun considering Pakistan to be a venue of a few matches. If other cricket teams decline to visit Pakistan, then Pakistan Cricket team has to choose neutral venues like Sharjah (though I differ from the fact that this is a neutral venue for Pakistan) to play its future series. This not only means that there is a loss of revenue for the already ailing Pakistan Cricket board, but it has to spend a lot in organising the cricket matches in venues like Sharjah. Until then, let us hope, let there be no more terrorist attach in any part of the world on anybody.

Let us pray for the speedy recovery for the cricketers who have been injured. Let the souls of those brave policemen, who gave up their lives in their mission of saving the cricketers rest in peace. Let God give their families strength to recoup from this irrecoverable loss. 

A Wake up Call

When India embarked on the New Zealand tour, everyone had tipped India to be the favourites to win both the T20, ODI and the Test series. Even the New Zealand coach had expressed his view that India are the favourites. But looking at the way in which Dhoni and his boys took played the first T20 international, it looks like India has got complacent. Let us not forget that New Zealand literally  gave Australia a run for their money in their own backyard. The Australian series was tied at 2-2 and the T20 match was a close one, but for the favours of the rain God, Australia wouldn't have won. So what did really go wrong for India in the first T20 match?

The main reason for the Indian team to taste success in this format is the game has been the attitude to keep wickets and go for thebig shots in the last 12 overs. Ideally, the first 8 overs should be played at 7-8 as the run rate, without losing any wicket. It then lays a very good platform for the batsmen coming in for the onslaught. This is the formula that was adopted in all the matches in the T20 world Cup. Even against Australia, India had scored only 5 an over after 8 overs. But with wickets in hand, it really does give an opportunity for the batsmen to follow. 

Where as in this match, Gautam Gambhir started with a flurry of shots. The first ball he faced, he walked down the pitch and wanted to hoist the ball. But he just couldn't succeed. He still hadn't calmed down after Sehwag slammed 3 successive sixes. Ideally Gambhir should have rotated the strike and given more to Sehwag. Agreed, Gambhir has been in excellent form. But this is a new game, totally new conditions. Just doesn't make sense to slog it out in the first over. 

Yuvraj Singh is known to have a weakness against slower bowlers. Before even settling, he played an awful shot to be trapped in front. Television replays might suggest that the ball pitched outside leg, but poor umpires, they don't have rulers to see, whether the ball pitched outside leg or not. ICC might come up with a crease marking wicket to wicket, which the umpires can use while adjudging LBWs.

At some point of time, India were awfully 73 for the loss of 5 wickets. No wicket was a genuinely earned wicket. Indians had thrown away their wickets going after some reckless batting. Looking at the pitch, which was a batting paradise, any batsman would have been enticed to go after the bowling, but when 2 wickets had fallen within the power play, Indians should have just played a couple of overs quitely. 

Rohit Sharma proved yet again that he is more of a hype than genuine hope. Despite some gutsy hitting by Raina, the score of 163 couldn't have been reached.

Chasing 163 on a wicket like this and a ground, which is as much the size of a municipal ground in Indian streets is always going to easy for any team. Ishant sharma was really unlucky, when the umpire didn't raise his finger for Guptill. It may not have been written in the law book to give out for padding balls pitched outside off stump, but umpires these days are very strict while adjudging LBWs for such cases. The ball Ishant bowled to Guptill was a beauty of a delivery, pitched outside off, swung in and hit him just outside off. Any other Umpire would have raised his hand but the NZ umpire, didn't. There is a long standing record of Kiwi umpires being partial to their home team. Sunil Gavaskar wouldn't disgree, for he had to appeal to the umpire to declare a batsman out, when he bowled. 

Another let down of the game was Irfan Pathan. Normally, India always missed the 5th bowler. But in this game, even the 4th bowler was missed. Irfan either sprayed the ball to legs of the batsmen or gave width on the offside. He didn't even match the shadow of what he was 3 years ago. His strength has been his banana loop inswinger coming into the batsmen. But the kookaboora ball never swung. It is high time, he goes back to nets to get his zip back, or India would still suffer for keeping him in the side.

Nevertheless, there are more games to the tour and India has another opportunity to maintain the reputation of the World Champs in T20 cricket. It is a wake up call.

Srilanka Thrashed

In a game, in which the one who blinks will lose the game, Srilanka kept on blinking, and lost the series by the margin 4 – 1 to a far more superior Indian team. The only time they came close to winning was during 2nd ODI, but then also they have put a great fight back to come close. I don’t think that India has played some great cricket, but they had done enough to beat Srilanka comprehensively. Srilanka has won the last ODI not because of their great cricket but due to the complacency and care-free attitude of the Indian team.

Even before the series was started, India was the favorites even though Srilanka has beaten Pakistan in Pakistan. The only question that needed an answer was how the Indian batsmen will handle mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis. And the answer given by Indian batsmen was there is no mystery with this spinner. It’s all history. I am wondering how this was happened. Six months before, they are not able to read him. Now they were hitting him to all parts of the ground. Was he lost his magic or they have overcome the jinx? I think Mendis has to do something different as he was now handled by the batsmen very easily. Even in Pakistan, he doesn’t look like picking the wickets.

Indian Performance:

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India’s victory in this series was mainly because of the rampaging form of their batsmen. No need to point anyone for these victories. Because each one of them have put their hands up when the situation raised. Everybody has got atleast a 50 or 100 to their name. The spectacular thing was happened during 3rd ODI, when Sehwag and Yuvraj, one of the most devastating batsmen in all forms of the game, joined together and plundered the Srilankan bowling. That is the least thing any opposition captain does want to happen. They have scored at 8 runs/over and reduced the ODI into a T20. Yuvraj has been consistent throughout the series, while Sehwag was as destructing as ever, but throwing his wicket too early was a cause of concern. Gambhir was in brilliant form, scored a 60+ in first ODI and then a mammoth 150 during the 4th ODI to secure the win for India. Dhoni played responsibly without much risk in all games and ensured that the game was not going beyond India’s reach. What more important is, he kept himself cool during tense situations as a captain. Once again he led the team well. Yusuf Pathan was played some good innings here and there and bowled well in patches.

Even though India has won comprehensively there is lot of areas to improve. Bowling was not upto the mark. They have done just enough to grab the series. Even the ever consistent Zaheer Khan has been taken for runs. Ishant too must work on his variations. Ojha has come good in some games. I think with some more games he will improve his flight and variation. With some part-time spinners India has managed somewhat well to restrict the Srilankans. The injury prone Munaf Patel once again turned to bed instead of ground.

Failed:

The place given to Rohit Sharma in this Indian team was a debatable one. After playing in 30+ ODIs he still can’t find his feet. He was an exceptional talent, accepted. But how can you keep a batsman who was failing continuously. In this series also, each time a chance has been given he wasted them. The only innings in which he played well was on last year's CB series final. Another one is Suresh Raina. He has all kind of beautiful shots in his armory and the way he losing wicket after scoring some 30 or 40 runs doesn't argur well. He was becoming more of a utility player than a complete batsman. Irfan Pathan also lost his swinging ability and it's time to find a better all-rounder who was able to bowl this quota of 10-overs without any fuss.

Srilankan Performance:

The main problem with Srilanka was they were still dependent on the old warhorses Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas and the world record holder Muthiah Muralidharan. They were not able to find suitable players for the rest of the team and they were struggling in a big time against a quality opposition, which was not at their best.

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Jayasuriya was always a thorn in the flesh of the Indian bowlers. This time he made them bleed but he was not as sharp as he used to be. He scored a century in the first match and set the tempo for one consolidation win. He was ably supported at the top by Dilshan who was showing the signs of becoming a permanent opener for Srilanka with his big scores. But he needs to consistent to prove himself. This is a mixed series for him with runs scored in some matches and got out for some rash shots at times. Kumar Sangakkara was a in-form batsman for Srilanka, but the problem for them was, he was the only one who was in-form and he couldn't lift the spirits of this Srilankan team to win a match before losing the series. Mahela Jayawardene has found some form in the middle of the series and captained well this below average team. With most of the players in his team were out-of-form, the going is tough for him. Nuwan Kulasekara was the only bowler who seemed to have kind of idea of what to bowl at the Indian batsman. He was a thinking bowler and will be the lead bowler for Srilanka for the years to come. Kandamby also shoவின் ing glimpses of Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva in his batting. But he has work hard on his fitness else he will lose his place this fast paced ODIs.

Failed:

Bowling was a complete disaster for Srilanka with even Muralidharan was failed. India batsmen were handled him in a fearlessly which made him to look like an ordinary bowler. Mendis who was touted as a next big thing in world cricket was given a alarm signal to improve his cerenditals to shine at the world stage. Not much can be said about their fast bowling. Thushara was fast but lacked the control so can be said to other Srilankan fast bowlers. They have missed the accuracy of Vaas dearly, but he couldn't saved this Srilankan team. Batsmen who are not mentioned in the Clicked column can be taken as failed for granted.

Srilanka can only get consolidation from the below fact that they were not beaten by a side which was equal to them. But a team which was far superior in look, the way they play and which was thriving to become a top team in the world. There are problem aplenty for them and they must have known by now.

Well played India. Kudos to you.

Is Sachin shying away from T20 Cricket???

T20 cricket is here to stay and has already proved that this format of cricket is the most entertaining format, the millions of dollars being pumped in as advertisements bearing testimony to the earlier statement. T20 has found fan followers from children to elders and women too, who were very much content with soap serials which would make your eyes go moist. IPL 2008 topped all TRP ratings in the summer season and the entire Indian film industry postponed all of their summer releases, fearing poor turn outs at the cinema halls. But there is one man, who has constantly distanced himself from this format. He is none other than the Demi – God of Indian Cricket, Mr. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar gave a new dimension to play the first 15 overs of One Day cricket. It was his sharp cricketing acumen, which created a new rule to maximize those overs. But ever since the T20 format has been conceived, Sachin has played only one T20 International match against South Africa way back in 2006. India has since then played a World Cup, 2 matches against Australia one each in India and in Australia and India. The T20 match against Sri Lanka is the 3^rd match after the World Cup. But Tendulkar has not featured in any of these matches. Sachin is believed to have left Sri Lanka before the start of the match itself. 

Tendulkar volunteered to excluded from the T20 team and hasn’t been keen to be part of any of the other matches. While  other leading international players like Sanath Jayasurya, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden had all featured in the T20 world cup, Sachin didn’t. 

So why is Tendulkar, the run machine shying away from T20 matches? Is he afraid of the fact that the media would go all tongs together, if he failed.  Sachin does take a little while , say 10 balls to settle down and start making his shots. Does he feel that 10 balls are too much to settle down? Does he feel that he would be compared with his lesser experienced team mates, who might outscore him? Or does he feel that T20 is masala cricket, which purists don’t hold in high esteem and that’s why he doesn’t want to play this? Then he shouldn’t be even featuring in IPL. Or does Mahendra Singh Dhoni feel Tendulkar to be a burden in T20 games?

Whatever be the reason, it seems that Sachin Tendulkar is distancing himself from T20 cricket. I am an ardent fan of Tendulkar, and love to see him smash the balls outside the stadium and show that he is still a player having the fire in him.

A New Star for Australia

The T20 International match between Australia and South Africa is still going on, as I write this post and South Africa are able to restrict Australia to 183 in the 2o overs. But Australia wouldn't have got to this level but for the efforts for the new comer David Warner. He set the pace for a huuuge first innings score. He was scoring at will. Started in the 3rd over, hitting Ntini for 2 fours and 2 sixes. In comes Dale Steyn after 4 overs and he is being greeted with a Six over fine leg, and then comes the shot of the innings in the next ball.

 

No fast bowler likes to be hit for a six, that too, the first ball he bowls. Having hit by rookie batsman Warner for a six, Steyn bangs in a short ball on the bouncy MCG turf and expects Warner duck for this. But Warner was well prepared for this ploy and heaves Steyn's short ball for a huge six over mid wicket. The ball landed more than 20 rows into the stands. Had this any other ball, umpires would have forgotten about this and would have gone for another ball. 

Warner scored at will, running hard with his partners and making his partners like Ricky Ponting to complete a two, which would have been only a single. David Warner hit 7 fours and 6 sixers on his way to 83 of just 42 balls and the 43rd he faced, he fell to a catch at long on. That too would have been a six in any other ground. But not at MCG. 

But for this heroic effort of David Warner, Australia would have been panting for runs. More salt would have been rubbed on their faces, as they lost 9 wickets in getting their 183. The next best score was 21 from Ricky Ponting.

David Warner plays for New South Wales. He hasn't played any international cricket, nor any first class cricket as well. Just 7 one day games for New South Wales are his only cricketing experience. He just showed no fear of facing deadly bowlers like Ntini and Steyn. Australia have produced yet another star. 

Just heard that he has been signed by Delhi Dare Devils for the 2009 edition of the IPL. Let Lalit Modi be prepared to arrange for more extra balls, as the shots of Warner could well land up in the near by gutters thanks to the smaller size and reduced boundaries of IPL venues.