Ashes Series - English media starts the No.1 chant once again

No sooner the Ashes was regained by the English team in MCG, there are statements made about the team's potential to become the No.1. How many times have we heard this before?

Darren Gough says that England can beat India every day. He mentioned

India are fantastic in their own country and have some great individuals but I'd fancy this England side to beat them every day of the week

Look who is talking !!! How many tests, let alone series have the English team outside their own backyard? The opposition this Ashes does not have anyone outside of Michael Hussey (and probably Shane Watson) who would have been first-choice in previous Ashes series. Their current ICC ranking says it all.

Michael Vaughan goes on to say that for their own future, they have to win in SCG.

With the backroom management around the team and strength in depth in English cricket, there is no reason why England cannot achieve their goal of being No 1

The English team has given its supporters many moments of glory in the recent past - hence, the hopes of the supporters have soared. Dream on, England. Let us see how you fare in your next test series overseas. 

Related articles

• Ashes series - 11 reasons why Oz lost at MCG (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Ashes series - Is the new Australia same as old England? (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

2011 - Cricketing Wishes

After India finished the year 2010 successfully by winning the Durban test, my wishes for 2011 have increased. There are quite a few accomplishments I would like India to achieve in the New Year:

• First would be the Ongoing test series - India should win the final test match against the Proteans and win their first series there.
• India travel to West Indies, England and Australia. The last time they visited the same countries, they have won in WI and England while they lost in a controversial series in Oz. If they can repeat the performances in the first two tours while winning the one Down Under, that would be really great news
• India host West Indies also in the New Year. Considering the opponents position and (in)experience, it will be a surprise if there is a result less than 2-0 (for India)
• Sachin Tendulkar will score 15,000 runs very soon, considering the form he has been in the last one year. He will retire from ODIs after guiding the Indian team to victory in WC2011 to focus on test matches for the next few years
• Harbhajan Singh will reach the milestone of 400 wickets very soon - quite a landmark considering the fact that there are not many Indians who have taken so many
• Rahul Dravid makes a graceful exit by playing his last series in England and topping the runs scored
• VVS Laxman starts making contributions in First Innings of test matches so that he is not required to bat in the Second Innings
• Sehwag stops falling to spinners and left-arm pace bowlers after dominating the bowling completely
• India agrees to play test cricket with UDRS in place for all their test matches
• Sreesanth stops fighting with rival batsmen - he focuses his attention on his pace and bowls regularly at speeds of more than 145kmph
• Ishant Sharma stops bowling no-balls in matches
• Gary Kirsten agrees to continue coaching the Indian team for 3 more years
• Anil Kumble contests elections at the national level and wins!!!

Do you have any other hopes for the Indian team in the New Year? Let me know.

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• Jai Tendulkar and Veeru Dravid for India (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

SA Series - One-all, One more to play

After the great comeback by the Indians in Durban, the caravan moves to Capetown for the final decider. With this win, the Indians have increased their tally to 19 overseas wins in the 2000s, compared to an overall number of 36 in the history of Indian cricket.

MS Dhoni downplayed the win yesterday in his characteristic style, focusing on the next test match. The Indians had lost the test on a spinning surface during the last tour - MSD wanted the team to gear up for the next challenge and finish strongly.

On the surface for the next test, MSD had this to say

The greener the better. Most of our bowlers are skill bowlers. Even if we bowl only 135 to 140k, we are swing bowlers, which means the greener the wicket the better it is because the bowlers can swing it a bit more.

This is quite a confident statement to make by the Indian captain. The next test match will be played at a ground known to assist spin bowlers.  In the last three years, South Africa have won 2 and drawn 1 on this ground - England escaped defeat thanks to the exploits of their last wicket stand. The previous first-class match on this ground saw a decisive match with the bowlers getting a lot of help on the first day. Will MS Dhoni's luck with the toss turn during this test match?  The commentators during the second test match were talking about the law of averages catching up with Dhoni - high time it did !!

PS - a moment of magic in Durban yesterday for everyone's delight, thanks to @ptrthomas.

SA Series - India equalize test series

Clever captaincy by MS Dhoni The South African team is scared of history - it has been proven many times earlier. Remember their performance in multi-national ODI tournaments? Everyone is aware of this. Now, remember how the media had harped upon their performances in Durban?  I am sure that this was also on their mind at various times throughout the second innings of this test match. They now have three scores in the 130's (out of six innings) in Durban and lost all the three tests played. Similarly, Hashim Amla's home-ground jinx continued for some more time (his dismissal in both innings giving the initiative back to India).



This pressure, coupled with the tight bowling of Harbhajan Singh made life miserable for the Proteas. As AB tweeted, South Africa did not play as well as they could. Run-making was made difficult with the bowling and some clever fielding placements. It was only a matter of time when an unplayable ball arrived - just like Murali Vijay faced yesterday, Kallis was the unlucky batsmen today to get a snorter from Sreesanth. Other than this ball, the pitch had not deteriorated to such an extent that nobody could beat the first innings score of VVS (Prince would beat it later, however).

De Viliers got a dismissal that looked out in real-time but Hawk-Eye showed it to be going above the stumps. Similarly, Boucher got a ball that seemed to come in to hit off-stump. Both these dismissals were not approved by the South Africans and the latter batsmen seemed to have realized that any hopes of win were remote. MS Dhoni did a clever move by bringing Zaheer into the attack (with chances of reverse-swing, MSD started the bowling with Sreesanth & Harbhajan, saving Zak for later). Prince waged a battle against the Indians thwarting the attack with the tailenders but it was just a matter of when the last wicket would fall. A smart piece of fielding by the youngster Pujara brought the final wicket, resulting in the match win for India.

Overall, a good comeback by the Indians after the loss in the first test match. Ayaz Menon tweeted that the game-changers for India were Zaheer and VVS Laxman but I wouldn't agree with it. One has to credit the resurgence to the entire team - right from the second innings of the first test, the comeback had been initiated by the knocks of Gambhir, Tendulkar and Dhoni - this was taken to the next level in this match by Laxman and the bowlers lead by Zaheer. It was team-work alright!!

Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted that the last 5 great overseas wins for India have been at Headingley, Perth, Jamaica, Wanderers and now Durban - lively, pacy wickets are to the advantage of the Indian bowlers now. Opponents of India, Beware!!!   

Related articles

• SA Series - Seven wickets to equal the series (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• SA Series - India strike back to gain advantage (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• SA Series - Second test starts tomorrow with advantage Proteans (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Smith prepared for India backlash (news.bbc.co.uk)

Ashes series - 11 reasons why Oz lost at MCG

Ugly CaptainThe Ashes is on its way to England after the hosts lost by an innings (again) and more at MCG. Hardly anything went right for the Oz team from the moment the coin was tossed. Here, we look at 11 reasons why they lost at MCG:

1. Ricky Ponting - The captain should take the responsibility of losing the test match as well as the Ashes. First with his batting which is dismal at this moment (an average of 16 runs in 4 test matches is hardly Ponting-like) and then his captaincy which seems to be lacking the imagination required to conjure results from hopeless situations. Adding to these is his brawl with umpires that saw him argue with the best umpire in the world - his desperation showing up in a visible manner.
2. Michael Clarke - The Deputy has a slightly better average than his captain (21+) and that is not saying much in his defense. The Pup needs to sort out his batting, especially against the short-pitched variety - he doesn't need to go far to do it. The new entrant into the Selection Committee - Greg Chappell - can do a great job.
3. Phil Hughes - the opener wanted to do the role of a Virender Sehwag for Australia when chosen. The joke in twitverse is that he is doing the role of Suresh Raina - enough said!!!
4. Shane Watson - Has been contributing steadily at the top of the order but guilty of throwing it away after scoring a fifty. His lack of bowling has handicapped the Oz further.
5. Steven Smith - Was he chosen for his batting or bowling? The most surprising selection after that of Cameron White, he has been missing on the wickets column while adding few runs on the board (by the way, he has a higher average than Clarke and Ponting!!!)
6. Michael Hussey - Mr.Cricket had his first set of failures in the series in this test match. The second highest run-scorer in the series, he has managed to salvage his reputation thanks to his scores in the first three test matches. Failures were bound to come but two in the same match was a bit too difficult to swallow.
7. Brad Haddin - The other lower-order contributor for Australia in this series who has been shoring up the scores. His keeping has been steady for the Oz - maybe the right guy to take over the captaincy hat also.
8. Mitchell Johnson - A six-wicket haul in Perth notwithstanding, his alter-ego appeared in MCG and continued the otherwise depressing performances in test match. One of the reasons why Australia struggles to take twenty wickets in a match.
9. Ben Hilfenhaus - Another failure who has taken four wickets in three matches this series. An English-type bowler who has failed as bad as Johnson.
10. Ryan Harris - Injured in the series and out of the 2011 ODI World Cup. Was doing a good job in supporting Siddle with his lion-hearted performances but faces an uncertain future now.
11. Peter Siddle - The bowler who has looked like taking wickets for Australia - running in fast and doing his bit for the struggling team. The only bowler who looks capable of playing for a longer period.

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• Ashes series - Even-stevens at MCG (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• England Retain The Ashes After Test Win (news.sky.com)

SA Series - Seven wickets to equal the series

Seven !!! Yes, seven more wickets for India to win the test match and square the series at 1-1. For South Africa, it is a matter of 192 more runs. Right now, India is in the driver's seat to win the match while one can never say till the time Kallis and AB De Viliers are at the crease. The pitch will support Harbhajan and India will come back strongly with the services of Zaheer Khan, who was a bit gingerly on the field.

Maybe it was something to do with the time he spent on the field, supporting VVS Laxman with a partnership that is mostly a match-winning one. VVS was seldom uncomfortable on the pitch where he has the Top 2 scores of the match. Only when the last wicket was left, he tried his hand with an uncharacteristic shot that led to his downfall. Till then, it was all class and grace from the maestro, who averages 142+ in the Indian 2nd innings whenever he scores more than 50.

In such match-changing knocks, he averages 43+ with Zaheer Khan and 36+ with Ishant Sharma - proof that most of his innings have come when the chips are down and he is forced to play with the tailenders. He did the same today also with Zaheer and added 80 runs after the fall of Harbhajan Singh. This partnership brought the target to 303, a total that was more challenging than what was anticipated in the morning.

Zaheer, after scoring his fourteenth score of 25+ in test matches was not his usual self with the ball when South Africa started their innings. It also helped that Greame Smith came out with an aggressive mindset against him. Runs started flowing and Dhoni was forced to take Zaheer out of the attack. Sreesanth, however, made up for Zaheer's lack of form with a good spell of swing bowling, taking two wickets and bringing India back in the game. Harbhajan chipped in with Peterson's wicket and India gained further advantage. The run-rate that was more than five at one time, came down with the new batsmen at the crease.

Tomorrow, the wickets of De Viliers and Kallis are key to the match. If they can be dismissed early, India will be able to run through the remaining wickets quickly. With runs on the board, I would call the Indians as the favorites right now.

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• SA Series - India strike back to gain advantage (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
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SA Series - India strike back to gain advantage

India, by their performance today, proved multiple theories in the ongoing test series. Their bowlers came up with a performance that showed why they were the No.1 team in the world. The show put up by the batters yesterday signified the devils in the pitch on the first day of the first test match. The innings of South Africans also gave an idea of how they would have succumbed if they had batted first in the same match.

The beginning of the day went against the plans of the Indians - if they had thought about adding few runs and take the score near 250, Steyn and Morkel dismissed the thoughts quickly - VVS Laxman's score of 38 was the highest of the innings (in fact, highest of the match after 2 days).

At this juncture, the script followed a pattern that was visible in the last test series between the two sides when Sreesanth sent the Proteas packing. This time, it was Zaheer Khan who lead the attack with his strikes. First with his bunny, Greame Smith, and then adding the wicket of Peterson Zaheer increased the hopes of India. Fantastic catching by the Indians helped the bowlers take quick break-throughs and reduce the score of the opposition. Luck aided them through the run-out of Kallis. Harbhajan came into his own and picked up wickets, thanks to the turn and bounce available on show - his eleventh performance of four wickets and above overseas (eight of them have helped India win - will the latest one also do the same?)

Sehwag started briskly and took the initiative to score quick runs on the board (42 runs in the first nine overs) - Steyn was removed from the attack as a result of this assault. But, four wickets in the space of 16 runs put the pressure back on India. Except for Murali Vijay's wicket, the others chased the ball to get out. The Indians came out with an aggressive intent and were on the lookout for runs - obvious strategy to add runs even while staying at the crease. It was left to VVS and Pujara to see out the rest of the evening (before bad light stopped once again) with 36 runs added to the score.

166 is the lead that India has at the end of the second day, making them the favorites after two days. Setting a total of 275 to 300 (or more) will help them equalize the series.

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SA Series - Same story, different ground

Impressive Bowling again by SteynThe script-writer of the current test series between the No.1 and No.2 test matches in the World was at it again. The story was the same even though the series had moved to Durban - the pitch might have behaved a bit better this time while the Indian team had gained confidence thanks to their showing in the second innings of the first test at Centurion. The score at the end of the day feels better but it could have been much more in favor of the Indians if not for poor execution of shots.

Sehwag and Sachin were guilty of throwing their bat at balls which could have been left alone. Murali Vijay and Dravid were unlucky to get balls from the champion Steyn that were unplayable. Laxman was also cut short by a brilliant catch by Tsotsobe - he seemed to have got in groove for a long innings but he was also left speechless at the catch that sent him back to the dressing room. Pujara gritted out and spent more time than Suresh Raina spent in both the innings of the first test match but his ill-advised pull to a ball outside the off brought his downfall. Dhoni and Harbhajan are at the crease playing a sensible game and adding invaluable runs for India at this stage.

For South Africa, they must be happy at the end of Day 1. If the light had not become bad, they might have made even more inroads into the Indian lineup. There was an injury scare for Steyn which will be known later today. India must hope that he doesnt recover - for his impact on the test match and series is becoming overpowering. The time lost in this test match will become critical - 34 overs were lost today and if it happens regularly, it will be a draw rather than any other result. Even then, you never know, South Africa showed how quickly they can score against the Indians in the last test. So far, it is advantage South Africa. 

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Ashes series - Even-stevens at MCG

After the resurgence of the Australian attack in Perth, the series is even-stevens at MCG with everything to play for both the teams. Ricky Ponting seems to have recovered and is all set to play tomorrow - news that must have made the team Management feel relieved. More so Greg Chappell who believes that Clarke is not ready to be the captain now.

The pitch will be key after there were reports that the playing deck was switched. If it supports the slower bowlers, England will enjoy the advantage while if it is a hard one, the onus will be on the batsmen to revive the innings from the opposition bowlers.

Will Hussey and Cook continue their golden run? Or will it be the resurgence of Ponting and Collingwood? Similarly, will Johnson continue his all-round performance he showed in the Perth test or will another avatar of the fast bowler appear at MCG? Will Anderson rally his team after reports of stiffness were played down by him?

All questions will be answered over the next five days when one team will blink. Which team will it be?

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• Shane Warne: momentum says Australia will defeat England at Melbourne in fourth Ashes Test (telegraph.co.uk)

SA Series - Second test starts tomorrow with advantage Proteans

Bowlers should put their hands up

India take on the South Africans in Durban tomorrow trailing in the series after an innings defeat in the first test. The first day was good enough to test the Indian line-up and they failed. The Indian batting has faced many stringent tests over the years and this was another that they failed, especially in the first test match of the series.

Zaheer Khan will be back and that will boost the Indian bowling attack. Greame Smith will be dreading the return of the Indian spearhead as he has fallen many a time for the guile's of Zak. As Ananth mentioned in his column, the Indians must be also hoping for the mystery spinner (Harbhajan Singh) to make a contribution in this test match, taking a cue from Swann in the previous test that South Africa played against England.

The batting will undergo a change with mostly Cheteshwara Pujara taking the place of Suresh Raina and another late change of Murali Vijay coming into the playing Eleven thanks to Gambhir's injury. Gambhir had managed to get a big score in the second innings of the first test and his injury means that Vijay has to get adjusted to the pitch in this test match.

The pitch is again the cynosure of everyone after the first test while the talk is the bowling composition of the hosts. Will they drop the spinner? The selectors will not take such a drastic step as there could be a chance that the pitch will take turn - the coach has backed Harris to play and that seems logical as well, since Kallis is available as the fifth bowler.

The Indians can take a chance and bring in Pragyan Ojha for Suresh Raina, putting the onus on the batsmen to take responsibility of the scoring but this does not seem to be the line of thinking of the Indian Team Management now. How the Indian bowlers can fire out the opposition quickly and put up a score that is beyond the reach, will determine the fate of the test match and thus, the series. Tomorrow is Boxing Day and who gifts the presents to the other team is to be seen.  

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• SA Series - Sachin's 50th delays the South African march (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
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• SA Series - wet and disappointing start for Indians (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Jai Tendulkar and Veeru Dravid for India

Harsha Bhogle's article today talks about how India have ignored Rahul Dravid's landmark of reaching 12,000 runs. This is true to a large extent because of Sachin Tendulkar's 50th century and the media hype surrounding the accomplishment.

Rahul Dravid epitomizes how a player (or a human being) can withstand Peer Pressure in his career as an Indian middle-order batsmen. His entry to test cricket with nineties on seaming English conditions was overshadowed by his team-mate and ex-captain's exploits (Sourav Ganguly made a splash in the same series scoring centuries). If his career had not overlapped with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, through his exploits, he would have caught more eye-balls in the press.

But, he has not felt this pressure at any time in his career nor as he mentioned anything about it. This typifies his character. If Sachin Tendulkar is revered all over for his humility despite his world-breaking records, Rahul Dravid is not too far behind. The soft-spoken batsmen is always there for his team-mates, both national and state. He is not too worried about captaincy issues, playing below Ganguly, Dhoni, Kumble for India while for his state, he is happy to play under the long-term captain selected for the season.

If Indian cricket in the era of Sachin Tendulkar was to be made as a movie, Rahul Dravid will do the job of Veeru to Sachin Tendulkar's Jai to counter the Gabbar Singhs of the World (Look at their partneship figures in test matches). We all hope and pray 'Yeh Dosti Yeh Donon Nahin Chodenge'  forever.

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• Tendulkar scores milestone century (mirror.co.uk)

Greatest ODI Match of All-time

Along with the earlier mentioned competition of selecting the Greatest ODI team of All-time, there is another competition from ICC to select the greatest ODI match of all-time.

The World Cup finals of 1975, 1983 are included while the Australasia Cup final (when Miandad won by hitting the six of the final ball) is also present. Other matches include the one when Gibbs dropped the World Cup (South Africa vs Australia tied match) as well as the high-scoring game when South Africa chased down a 400+ total vs Australia. Bangladesh's upset win over Australia in England has a mention.

From my view-point (Biased you might think), it is the 1983 World Cup final that is the best match of all-time for various reasons:
a) West Indies was the ruling team in the 1980s till the World Cup and their performance in ODIs was good to make them the favorites to win the third successive Cup.
b) India had not won anything in note in the first 2 World Cups and were not expected to anything worth-while.
c) India defeated the West Indies after scoring a low score of 183 - defending it with great vigor. No one would have predicted the Indian victory after the first innings was completed.
d) It was a neutral venue thereby not having any home advantage to the Indians. It can be argued that even for the Windies it was a netural one (but they had more supporters on the ground)

Do you agree with my choice? What is your favorite ODI match?

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Greatest ODI Team of All-time

ICC has started a competition to select the greatest ODI players and teams of all-time, to mark the 40th anniversary of One-Day International (ODI) cricket.

Unfortunately, they have already given different categories in which readers have to select the players (My choices are also mentioned below with my rationale):

two openers - Matthew Hayden (A destructive top order player with an average of 43.80, he has been responsible for the starts Australia have received in ODIs), Sachin Tendulkar (Legend of the game)

three middle order players - Michael Bevan (The third highest batting average of all time, 53.58 in 232 matches, and arguably the greatest 'finisher' the game has ever seen. In this line-up, he can afford to play the big shots as well as shore the batting if there is a collapse), Aravinda de Silva (9,248 ODI runs helped Sri Lanka win the World Cup - a devastating player on his day on all grounds), Viv Richards (The most exciting batsman of all time - the one that inspired many a player to take up the sport. Will be the captain of this team as well)

an all-rounder - Ian Botham (One of the best all-rounders in the World whose batting in test matches resembled the ODI variety. Could swing the ball both ways)

a wicket-keeper - Adam Gilchrist (A strike-rate of 96.94, and a winner of three consecutive World Cup medals - In this line-up can open the batting or come lower down the order)

three fast bowlers - Wasim Akram (One of two players to have taken more than 500 ODI wickets - what a bowler he was!!), Allan Donald(Selected him for the sheer speed and dominant force he was in international cricket), Glenn McGrath (Another great who could bowl all day on line and length. Can restrict the scoring if the opponents have put up a good score)

a spinner - Shane Warne (The best spinner of all-time. Selected for his ability to take wickets)

It would have been good to have asked readers to select 2 teams so that the viewers could have identified more players from the pool selected. I have selected players from as many countries as possible so that a good representation can be made.

To play this champion team, I propose this team that is also in the list provided by ICC:
Sourav Ganguly, Gordon Greenidge, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting(c), Jacques Kallis, MS Dhoni, Michael Holding, Waqar Younis, Dennis Lillee, Saqlain Mushtaq.

Coming soon - IPL4 auction in Bangalore

The IPL players' auction will be held in Bangalore on January 8 and 9. There will be multiple price bands in the auction - interesting choices are available in these bands. One wonders how the franchises will take their decisions.

Band	Batsmen	Bowlers	All-rounders	Wicket-keepers
400,000 USD	Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Shaun Marsh, Mahela Jayawardene, Ross Taylor, Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers	Anil Kumble, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Graeme Swann, Michael Yardy, Brett Lee, Daniel Vettori	Luke Wright, Chris Gayle	Adam Gilchrist, Brendon McCullum, Tillakaratne Dilshan
300,000 USD		Muttiah Muralitharan, Zaheer Khan, Shaun Tait,	Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Andrew Symonds, Angelo Mathews	Kumar Sangakkara
200,000 USD	Gautam Gambhir, Michael Hussey, Eoin Morgan, Robin Uthappa	Doug Bollinger, Dirk Nannes	Sourav Ganguly, Sanath Jayasuriya
100,000 USD	Tamim Iqbal	R Ashwin, Morne Morkel, Ben Hilfenhaus

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SA ODIs - Indian team announced for final ODI series before WC2011

The Indian selectors announced the team for the ODI series on the sojourn to South Africa, after the test series has been completed.

The squad is as follows:
Openers - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar
Middle-order - Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan
Wicket-keeper & Captain - MS Dhoni
Pace Bowlers - Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, S Sreesanth 
Spinners - Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Piyush Chawla

This seems to be the side that is most likely to be picked for the World Cup 2011 - obviously, there is one seamer too many in this series for obvious reasons. One will be dropped to make way for a spinner while a reserve-keeper (Parthiv Patel) might have been useful also. How effective this team will be, is going to be tested by a strong Protean squad on their home soil. That will reveal the actual strength of the Indians.

It might be a good idea to keep Zaheer Khan under cotton wool so that he remains fresh for the World Cup while avoiding any injuries that might happen in the ODI series. Ishant, Rohit Sharma, Jadeja, Tiwary were left out of the squad, giving strong indications that they will lose out in the World Cup also.  It is quite interesting to gauge the reason why Piyush Chawla was selected ahead of Pragyan Ojha.

Whatever it is, there couldnt have been a better team selected for the South Africa. Do you agree?

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SA Series - South Africa go 1-0 up

After his exploits yesterday, all of India expected a much larger role to be played by Sachin Tendulkar today. But, very unlike him, the test match was completed in less than six overs played. Tendulkar added just 4 more runs while India reduced their deficit by 5 more.

Overall, the highest score in an innings defeat is a good sign for the Indian team in the next test match. The first-day would come back to haunt them - the damp pitch caught the batsmen napping and there was no way out for the Indians after that. The bowling was already depleted thanks to Zaheer's injury - they literally had no clue where to bowl to the Proteas. South Africa lost just 4 wickets in the match with 3 centurions and 2 half-centuries. The scene looks very similar to the Australians after the second test match of the current Ashes series. Will the Indians come back like the Oz did in Perth? It is possible if not likely.

The South African bowling is dependent on Steyn and Morkel to get the breakthroughs - their third seamer not able to make any impact while Harris was restrictive at the best. If the Indians can go through the initial overs of the pacers, they have a good chance of raising a big score. That is where Sehwag and Gambhir should take over from the 2nd innings of this test match and give a good start.

But, the major problem is with the bowling. The Indians dont know how to take 20 wickets now, especially when the wicket is not helping them. Zaheer Khan will come back mostly and take the place of Unadkat but Sreesanth and Ishant have to get their rhythm back as well. Another important aspect is the luck that MS Dhoni has with the toss - he himself acknowledged this fact after the match.

South Africa seems to be a well-oiled machine in all departments, especially the batting (and fielding). The bowling, as already mentioned, revolves around Steyn and Morkel which was good enough for the Indians in this test. In the previous series in India, South Africa defeated India by an innings thanks to Steyn's performance (Sachin scored a 2nd innings century then also). But, the Indians came back with an innings win on their own, thanks to a turning track - can they do it again this Boxing Day test match? Yes, provided they back their hopes and plans with proper execution.

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SA Series - Sachin's 50th delays the South African march

50 Centuries - No mean featSachin Tendulkar selected the right occasion to score his 50th century in test matches - 50 centuries, very difficult to believe that one has scored so many but that is not great, if the person involved is a certain Sachin Tendulkar. At 277 for six, Sachin felt that this was another test going the same way as most of other test matches (13 losses in the last 20 years) where India had faltered in the first innings (less than 200 runs) and thus lost the match.

But MS Dhoni gave him company for more than 40 overs to take India close to the first-innings deficit. Dhoni fell but not Sachin. He is still there, keeping the hopes of the entire nation, to take India's march on the final day also.


VVS Laxman had an off-day at office which meant that the pressure was more on Sachin. He obviously was not thinking about the century because there was still a lot of runs to be scored. Before him, Rahul Dravid had also fallen to the bowling of Morkel. The South African bowling was very focused and the pitch was helping the spinners a bit. The bounce sometimes was unpredictable but not overly impossible.

Bad light stopped play and there was reports that rain came down quickly. Will rain stop the Proteas march tomorrow just like it helped Cullinan in 1997. Someone else remarked that if the same match had taken place in the Asian sub-continent, tonight's rains will definitely help the Indians save the match - in fact, it would have not started on Day 1 itself.

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• Tendulkar scores milestone century (mirror.co.uk)

SA Series - India have little history to fall back on

How have India fared while trying to draw a match?

1. This page shows how India has done while drawing a match against South Africa. The last one in South Africa came almost 10 years ago when Dravid played an innings for almost 6 hours. Deep Dasgupta supported him then. Can the Wall do it again?
2. This one shows how India has done while drawing a match away from home in the last 5 years. Most noticeable one was at Napier where Gambhir and Laxman had combined together very well. Gambhir has already left the crease while VVS is expected later.
3. Current captain MS Dhoni was instrumental in saving a match in England in 2007 before going on to win the series. How will MSD fare in the second innings?

Well, it has to be a team effort to ensure that all have to contribute to the team cause. Of course, weather gods will have to help also - let us hope they come to India's rescue in the second innings after fixing them in the first. 

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• SA series - can the weather help the batsmen bail India out? (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• 'It will be hard for South Africa to get us out' - Gambhir (espncricinfo.com)

SA series - can the weather help the batsmen bail India out?

First Double There was one way Kallis was going to feel edgy in this test match - that was once the thought struck him about his nearing double-century. The Indians sensed this and tightened the field refusing the singles. But, the Giant was not denied this time. He has missed the Double many times earlier but not now. This was the only time India was close to getting him dismissed. The problem for India was that he had added more than two hundred runs in the first session (extended by 30 minutes) at a rate of more than run-a-ball.

AB De Villiers showed exactly why he is the promising player in all formats of the game in today's world. His run-scoring was quick without taking any major risks. He made sure that Smith could execute his plans even earlier than he had planned for.

Once Kallis scored his double and De Villiers got out trying to increase the scoring rate further, Smith decided that he had enough runs in the bank to win the match. As soon as the Indians started batting in the second innings, appeared clouds on the horizon. Was it going to help the Indians draw the match or was it going to spice up the pitch like it did in the first innings?

Sehwag and Gambhir showed that there were no demons on the pitch, like the Proteas showed. The run-rate was healthy and the pace bowlers were not able to trouble the batsmen like the way they did in the first innings. It was good to see the way they had put the lead behind and notched up runs in quick time. But, Sehwag has shown a recent trend of getting out to a spinner after having settled down. It happened once again and South Africa were celebrating. The dismissal of Gambhir later in the day also ensured that there would be two relatively new batsmen at the crease in the morning.

Session-Dashboard has the South Africans leading the Indians by 6-2. Can the Indians win 4 sessions (of the remaining 6) in a row to equalize the match and go to the next test at 0-0? The weather has to help the batsmen in achieving this target. The forecast is for rains today and more tomorrow - will the Indians push the match till tomorrow?   

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• SA series - India on fast track to defeat (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
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2011 World Cup - India announce their 30 member squad

India announced their 30-member squad for the World Cup today. I had come up with my expected list 4 months back.

The squad named is as follows:

1. Openers - Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane
2. Middle-order - Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma,  Ravindra Jadeja, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Cheteshwar Pujara
3. Pace bowlers - Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Praveen Kumar
4. Spinners - Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin
5. Wicket-keepers - MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel, Wriddhiman Saha 

The ones highlighted in blue are the changes from the ones I had selected. While no major surprises were there, selection of 4 wicket-keepers was a luxury that one never imagined. Parthiv's two fifties in the NZ ODIs has helped the selectors choose him. Mithun and Dinda were left out - both must have felt disappointed after being part of the ODI squads earlier this year.

Overall, a squad where the major challenge will be to prune this list down to 15.

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• India select squads for NZ ODIs and SA series (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

There is a world outside England, Ted

I have enjoyed the writing of Ted Corbett, senior English writer, in the cricketing field for quite a while now. His humor is very evident in the articles he writes for Sportstar, almost every week when the English cricket team is playing. Maybe he took his humor a bit too much in his recent article

Kevin Pietersen is now the most intimidating cricketer in the world. There is no one else, since Brian Lara laid down his bat for the last time, who can destroy an attack, reduce the morale of a team to zero and boost his side's run rate so much that the bowlers have all the time they need to complete victory

Ted, agreed that England won the second test match against Australia very convincingly and KP played a major role in the victory. But, to hail him as the most intimidating cricketer in the world? Please. And why Brian Lara? Because he scored those record-breaking triple centuries against your team? You might have apologised to Sachin Tendulkar & Ricky Ponting (and Kumar Sangakkara) in your article but havent you heard of the exploits of a Virender Sehwag, if not Sachin or Ricky?

There is no one else, since Brian Lara laid down his bat for the last time, who can destroy an attack, reduce the morale of a team to zero and boost his side's run rate so much that the bowlers have all the time they need to complete victory.

If this statement was given as a Quiz question to any contestant, the first name that appears to everyone will be the Nawab of Najafgarh, not the English recruit from South Africa.

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• Brian Lara in praise of Sachin (topinews.com)
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SA series - India on fast track to defeat

An hopeful India expected MS Dhoni to add 20-30 runs after match started 30 minutes before, to make up for lost time yesterday. But, he lasted 3 balls in the morning. It was exactly as the Proteas wanted to start the day. The rest of the day continued on a similar note for them with nothing much happening for the rest of the day.

The openers started for South Africa on a cautious note with the Indian bowlers able to swing the ball and keep them on a tight leash. But, they were not to be denied - as Morkel suggested the previous day, the batsmen knew exactly how to leave the balls alone. They went through difficult times and then their confidence began to grow. This is where Zaheer Khan  was missed by the Indian bowlers. MS Dhoni also did not have any help from the weather or the pitch - he did not try out anything different on the field. Part-timers were tried but of no avail.

Harbhajan managed to snare two wickets - those of the openers. But, that brought in the 2 in-form batsmen from South Africa - Amla and Kallis. Both continued their good run and accumulated runs at a fast clip. At the end of the day, both had scored centuries while the lead was more than 200 runs. The run-rate of the innings has been a healthy 4.27 - a figure that is impressive in most matches, especially on a wicket that was behaving differently only 24 hours ago.

The Session Dashboard shows the score of 5-0 in favor of South Africa.

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• SA Series - wet and disappointing start for Indians (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Zaheer doubtful for first Test (espncricinfo.com)
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Is the World Cup greater than Test cricket?

Such a question comes to one's mind on listening to MS Dhoni's comments before the start of the first test match at Centurion.

He is always one bowler who has done really well. It is a blow, but at the same time we have to see the longer picture. We have to think about the World Cup also. We are so close to the World Cup, and any injury to any of your best 11 players may have a bigger impact, so that's also a bit of a concern. Till we are 100% sure about his fitness and injury, we won't risk playing him.

 I agree that it is not a good idea of taking a pace bowler who is not entirely 100% fit but thinking about World Cup which is more than 2 months away is not the right excuse.

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