Not a Gentleman's game anymore

The past few days have been really horrible. News channels, papers, internet and mail boxes are flooded with mails against Australian cricket team and Steve Bucknor.

Sydney test will certainly be remembered for long, not just because Australia scored their 16th successive record equaling win, but for providing an aftermath which will be a blot forever in the history of cricket.

Lets look into the issue of Harbhajan. Though there is no conclusive evidence that Bhaji has called Symonds a monkey, lets assume him that he had. Bhaji did not call Symonds as a monkey straight away, all of us know that Symonds had a big go at Harbhajan after which only bhaji spoke. So, if Harbhajan gets a ban, then Symonds should also get it for provoking him. If it had been truly a Gentleman's game, Pointing should not have reported this to the umpires itself. What happened was not Gentleman's behavior but Aussie spirit, or thats what Ponting and fellow Australians say.

I can't stop myself from laughing whenever I read the what Ponting and CA chief James Sutherland said. (Ponting said that " We played the game in the right spirit" and Sutherland "It has always been the Australian way to play the game of cricket hard but fair").

I don't believe Australia is such a bad country where no one knows the meaning of the words Spirit and Fair. A humble request to my Australian friends, please gift Ponting and Sutherland a dictionary on our behalf.

Australia are the World Champions and may play the game hard, but are the playing it in a fair way and in a right spirit?
Is sledging your opponents vociferously right spirit? Is claiming a catch when it has been grounded spirit? When it has been decided that players will give indicate whether they have taken a catch cleanly or not, Clarke should have acted in a proper way. That is what Kumble meant by saying "Only one team was playing in the spirit of the game".

At the same time, when Kumble has come out with such a strong statement, then he must make sure, in future whenever Team India takes on to the field, his boys should not appeal for a wicket unless otherwise they know for sure it is a wicket. In case even if one of them sees that the ball didn't hit the bat, he must inform his team mates when they are appealing. Can they do it? Lets wait and see.

The biggest disgrace in the happenings over the past few days had been the handling of Steve Bucknor. I agree Bucknor had a poor test, but he didn't have a vengance against India. Ponting was given out when he was not out, Sachin was given not out when he was out. BCCI should have bought this to the notice of the ICC after the series was over and ICC should have talked to WCB pointing out that Bucknor has aged and asked them to take a decision. Instead, everything was done so clumsily. BCCI should be blamed for riding the media wave with respect to Bucknor. We need to remember that it was of this same Bucknor that we won the test series in England.

Under all these confusion everybody seems to forgotten the failure of Yuvraj, dhoni and Jaffer. With the exception of Dhoni's first innings at SCG, the remaining 11 innings altogether played by these three was nervy and incompetent. We need to remember that these three were not even able to manage what Kumble has managed to score in the series and in the last innings. Australians have easily sorted out Yuvi and Jaffer. In case of Dhoni, you don't need a big plan to get him out in the longer version of game on wickets like this. With no foot movement and an obscure technique(which might be good on flat wickets) he will not be a force to reckon with in future, unless otherwise he reinvents himself, just like Dravid did a few years ago when everybody wrote him off. I don't even want to think of Dhoni captaining India in the longer version of the game in the next few years. Think Laxman might be suited for the job until we get a good one.

It is really sad that a very good test has finally turned out to be so sour.

Now the onus is on the Indian team to go out and remove themselves the tag of sore losers. Lets play hard cricket, but in a fair way and in the right spirit.

But a sincere request, please don't call Cricket a gentleman's game anymore.

Team India (c) Benson (b) Bucknor

Symmo might call it as good-old classic test match, but sadly this classic will be remembered only for its controversies.

Ricky Ponting - a Boon or a Bane to World Cricket?

I remember Ponting commenting on Murali Karthik to walk off the field when he nicked one to keeper in a dead rubber few months ago when Aussies toured India, it is the same Ponting who stood to his ground after nicking the ball to Dhoni when he was on 13. He went on to make a 50.

It is the same Ponting who is appealing for a catch to dismiss Dhoni at silly mid off which television replay clears shows he turfed it. Shameless he went on arguing with media that he didnt turfed. He even spurred words at Dhoni for not walking off.

Is Ponting the 5th umpire? When did he bagged the umpire's cap? Raising his finger and dismissing Ganguly. I have no doubt in my mind that Ricky is the most arrogant cricketer i have ever seen. Is there a way to control his over dominance ? Yes, there is. For the best interest of the game, i agree to Peter Roebuck's comments by sacking Punter from captaincy.


Man of the Match - Mr. Bucknor & Mr. Benson

In my book, Man of the match should be awarded to the person who won the match for the team. So it should have gone to Bucknor & Benson than Symmo. Sadly, the team is World Champions Australia.

How can a team win when 11 players competing against 14 (including 3rd umpire)? How can a umpire trust on a player & skipper whether the player took the catch or not especially when both of those didn't walked off when they nicked the ball to first slip & keeper respectively. Isn't it funny to ask a player rather than asking square leg or television umpire?

When 8 decisions go against you, it means one team with 11 players is competing against a team of 19. It doesn't augurs well for 16th straight world record test wins for aussies. It may sit well in record books, but world knows about this victory for ever.

Harbhajan "Bhajji" Singh was made bunny to dig hide all these umpiring controversies by terming him 'racist'. Australians according to me have no rights to talk about sledging. They being the poor sledgers of the game have now became "cry-babies".

Amidst all these controversies surrounding this thriller test match, it will also be remembered for the innings played by "Sultans of Sydney" VVS & Little Master.

"Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game, that's all I can say," Kumble's words rings sound in all ears. Lets hope both teams playing with the spirit of the game going into Perth.

Can Indians do it?

Nadesh and myself started this blog during the world cup. India's defeat lowered our morals and our laziness compounded it. At last I am breaking the shackles. With India touring Australia, we believe we will be writing consistently from now on.

With India touring Down under, I can't resist my temptation to see the intriguing battle between the Indians and the Aussies. Watching cricket being played in Australia is always a pleasure. The grounds will be big, each with its own aura and not to forget the nice commentary from Channel Nine (especially after watching the Pakistan series in our DD, this is a welcome change).

As everybody knows, it is going to be the last Australian tour for the glorious five of Indian Cricket (Sachin, Kumble, Dravid, Dada & Laxman). I didn't want to miss the action, that's why bought a dish tv today.

I want to watch Laxman pull Stuart Clark, Rahul Dravid leaning on his front foot to play a glorious cover drive of Breet Lee, Saching play one of the straightest straight drive of Mitchell Johnson, resurgent Dada coming down the track to loft Hogg over deep mid wicket, the scene of Anil Kumble galloping towards the pitch with one of the fiercest eyes, just like a vulture looking at its prey.

Oho, I can't wait.

But can we win the series?

Though we boast of one of the best batting line ups in the world, it is going to be quite tough. Our middle order might be robust but our 0pening is a concern. Though Wasim Jaffer was fluent against Pakistan, I doubt he will be finding it tough in Australia. The reason is Jaffer doesn't have a fluent game on off side, Flick and the jab on the leg side are the shots which Jaffer plays with ease. With bounce going to be in abundance in Australian pitches, it will be difficult for Jaffer to score. He has to settle quickly and play the waiting game which means the other opener has to attack. Can we pick Shewag? I believe we should not, Shewag was struggling against Mumbai in the Ranji trophy, so it will be a gamble to play him against the Aussie attack which seems to be lethal despite the absence of Warne and Pigeon. (Gambhir and Akash Chopra scored centuries in the same match). Dinesh Karthik had a poor patch against Pakistan, but his attitude and confidence showed in England might sneak him ahead of Shewag. Or will the go with Dravid as an opner? Any way the opening is going to be scratchy.

Its a known truth that whenever we get a good start our middle order will consolidate on it. But the Big four certainly will want to disprove it and will be batting with a determined resolve.

If a test match needs to be won, we need to bowl out the opposition twice. Taking 20 wickets against Aussies is not going to be the toughest task of all. You need to every ounce of your strength to do so and with an attack lacking a genuine swing bowler, it is going to be really difficult. Zaheer & RP Singh must come to their form of life to give India any chance of winning the series.

I will be happy If India wins the series, but the situation makes me believe its going to be a 1-1 drawn affair if our bowlers bowl their best. Or else it is going to be 1-0 or 2-0 for the Aussies.

No matter who is going to win, we can certainly see some good cricket. Buckle up to watch the series.

This is called Guts

Scotland have won the toss and put Aussies into bat at St.Kitts. This is what you call guts.

The score now is 83/0 after 15 overs. Gilly is at 40 and Hayden at 39.

Don't know what are the records which will be broken today.

Pakistan - Only a miracle will take them to semi finals

I was lucky enough to watch almost the entire match between Pakistan and West Indies yesterday. I watched about 35 overs in Pakistan innings, after which i no longer could stay awake. This world cup is going to be really tough to watch here in India, since the matches get over by around 4 in the morning.

One thing was quite clear from the match, if Pakistan maintain this momentum, they stand no chance of reaching the semi finals of this World Cup. They didn't have discipline in any of the departments, be it batting or bowling or fielding. At the same time, I believe we shouldn't take away the credit from Windies who played with the spirit to win the fight.

The start to Windies innings would have been worse hadn't Younis khan latched onto a easy chance at slip from Sarwan, after the Gayle had fallen the previous delivery. Chanderpaul, who didn't get his timing right, was caught unaware by a ball which jumped a bit. Sarwan, after the initial scare, settled well into his groove and reached the fence 9 times, all in nice fashion.

Think in this world cup, we will see many persons getting a great start but failing to convert them into big scores, unless otherwise they don't get flashy. The reason is when you have played some good shots you become confident and start playing aggressively, which should not be done in this sluggish pitches. You need to wait for the odd ball which comes occasionally because the ball after pitching stays for almost a second, hence you might not get your timing right on all occasions if you go for the big ones. Sarwan did this exactly, trying to drive a pitched up on and giving an easy catch, which Younis caught this time.


Samuels who was getting the feel of the pitch earlier on, dazzled with the introduction of Kaneria, hitting him effortlessly for a six over long on. Samuels and Lara not only steadied the ship, but also increased the run rate which was moaning at just above 3 to a healthy 4. When it seemed that both of them will see the team to a score of around 240, Lara departed getting an inside edge of a sweep off Kaneria, which Kamran Akmal manged to latch on. Kamran Akmal didn't have a great day behind the stumps, he needs to improve a lot or else it doesn't augur well for Pakistan. Samuels departed soon trying to step up the run rate. I think, Samuels have to show more maturity, because hadn't Dwayne Smith played a flashy innings at the end, Windies would not have reached this respectable total.

Slow ball is an one which must be used to confuse the batsmen with the change of pace, what amused me was the way Rana Naved Ul Hasan bowled slower one after slower one for all the six deliveries in the 48th over. The last ball of the over was wide of the off stump, Smith had enough time to whack it over deep mid wicket for a six, so slow was the ball.

Once Windies posted 241, i had a gut feeling that Windies would win and they did.

Pakistan got off out to bad start after Imran Nazir got out a set piece on the third ball of the innings. Powell seemed to bowl the first two balls deliberately short and wide. The second ball was chipped to third man for a six by Nazir. Buoyed by the six, Nazir went after the next ball which was pitched up, inviting him to drive, giving a regulation catch to Ramdin. It just showed that West Indies had done some good home work.

Windies would have had some plan for Younis Khan also, but Younis never waited for them to deploy it as he tried to pull a short ball which was pitched well outside the off stump. The result, another catch to Ramdin. Hafeez showed some promises but he also got out to a bad shot, trying to go across the top of Powell. That shot made me realize why this guy is having an average just below 18.

Three down for 39, Pakistan were in trouble. I thought with pitch playing slow, Lara would bring in Gayle to bowl some off cutters, instead he trusted his medium pacers and they reposed his confidence by bowling a very tight line which sent the required run rate and the pressure soaring in the Pakistan camp. We all know that Inzy is a very poor runner, hence Lara had mid on and mid off inside the circle saving the ones. With the pitch not favoring stroke play, Inzy and Yousuf found it hard to keep the scoreboard ticking. When Yousuf got out trying to step up the run rate, the match was almost over. The asking rate was well over six, i was also sleepy and hence went to sleep.

Anybody who would have watched the match would have known that, this world cup is going to be misery for Pakistan. I think from here on, Pakistan can drop Kaneria and bring in Azar Mahmood into the eleven. He can field well, bat well and also bowl. Malik and Hafeez can take care of the spin department.

Overall Verdict :
Windies : Played well with the fighting spirit, need to show more maturity in batting
Pakistan : Only a miracle will take them to semi finals (Forget that Afridi will be coming during Super - 8).

Time to Pad Up

Me and Nadesh are both mad about Cricket. We can talk for an entire day about cricket alone. Yesterday, we were having a mail conversation about the Indian team selection for the world cup, when thought of we two writing a blog occurred to me. Though both of us are not prolific writers, we are mad lovers of the game and hence we decided give it a go.

You might ask whether we have proper merits to comment about the game, surely we have.

You know, Nadesh was the Rahul Dravid of our college team, the only thing which separated him from Dravid was a small thing called consistency. I will not say that he was not all consistent, he had the unusual knack of hitting the ball straight to a fielder even if there are many gaps in the field. I will stop pulling his legs, but whatever I said is true, because I had watched almost all his innings during college. Being the team manager, you know it is not advisable to skip matches. Hope, you have got the point, that I was the manager of my college team, if not, know it now. Actually, i was also initially in the team, but they soon discovered that I can't bat, bowl or field, hence they promoted me as the manager. That's a different story, lets not get into it.

So, what are we going to do here now?

It might be anything as serious as, Did Punter cross the line, when he was reacting to Sunny’s comments few days ago. Or it might be about the Bermuda skipper Irving Romaine’s comment “I'm hoping Tendulkar does not hit a catch to him because he will probably drop it to watch him bat” on Lionel Cann.

But its going to be Cricket, Cricket and Cricket.

Don't know how frequently we are going to write. Nadesh has a laptop and think he can write frequently than I.

It's time to pad up.

We are still having the problem of who is going to play the first ball of the innings. Lets wait and see who is going to start writing first.