SAF 1st T20I - India lose depite putting up 200

The stats before the match started was surprising to me - India were leading the Proteans 6-2 in T20I matches. Wow! Really!! The long series started in Dharamsala and the pitch was more in favor of the South Africans rather than Indians - fair enough. The dew factor would have an effect but since the match started at 7PM local time, both teams would have an impact.

The Indian team batted first against a second-string South African bowling attack (Steyn and Morkel were rested due to the schedule mostly). While Rohit and Kohli smashed the bowling apart, the rest of the batting could not leverage further. The target was 200 which I thought was a tad lesser than what could have been, when Rohit was going great. India persisted with Rayudu (instead of Rahane) and though he didnt get many balls to face, I think he is not a T20I player. Time to look at options like Gurkeerat Singh Mann (who scored a double century in Ranji match) or Manish Pandey or even Sanju Samson. India needs a dasher if MSD is playing at No.4 - every team has one. Maxwell, Duminy, Morgan being examples of this genre.

India had a new left-arm new ball bowler after a long time - Sreenath Aravind. He, along with his new ball partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar, went for runs against the partnership of Amla and ABD. Ashwin, with his new-found confidence and ball-skills, pulled the team back with a run-out and dismissal of ABD. But JP Duminy bailed the team and brought them home.

The Indian team will come back on pitches that are more subcontinental than this one but it is important to learn the lessons from this match. The T20 bowling needs overhaul - Bhuvi is good with his yorkers while it was the first match for Aravind. Who is the other partner for Ashwin? Axar gave away the match with three consecutive sixes - is Harbhajan a better bowler in this format? If India wants to play Mishra in tests, better not to play him in the limited overs format. Who else then, after Ravindra Jadeja (who by the way is on his way to a ten-wicket haul in the first Ranji match)?

Sri Lanka series - amazing turnaround for hosts

The Indians started the test well - winning probably five of the first six sessions of the day. But, over the next five, they probably shared one session - overpowered by the performances of Chandimal and Herath with the bat and ball.

The match should have put the Indian management under dilemma regarding its five-bowler theory, especially when they have batsmen out of form (Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli to an extent) and bowlers out of touch (Harbhajan Singh and Varun Aaron). When the rest of the batsmen and bowlers do not put their hands up to backup the others, the performance was not good enough.

Ashwin and Mishra were the architects of the bowling performance in the first innings (Ishant and Aaron had provided the support in the beginning) while Dhawan and Kohli scored centuries to take India to a big lead. The middle and latter order batsmen did not contribute much to take the lead to an unbeatable one (except Saha to an extent).

The umpiring was also to be blamed for India's decline - two decisions went against them (those of Thirumanne and more importantly Chandimal) that could have finished the match on Day 3. The saga of poor umpiring in Lanka against India is not a recent trend - despite independent umpires, the tragedy continues.

What should the Indians do next? Return back to four good bowlers instead of five decent ones - Ishant, Ashwin and Mishra should continue while the fourth bowler should be Bhuvi - despite his lack of pace, the bowler can hod his line and length and restrain the scoring rate. This was something the bowlers failed to do in the second innings.

The fourth innings was the most tragic one - the Indians could not face the Lankan bowling spearheaded by Rangana Herath. The Indians showed that their performance in the first innings was an exception thanks to the heroics of Dhawan and Kohli.

What should standout from this match was the catching of both teams - it was tremendous to see the catches and Rahane was exceptional to catch eight in the match.

Sri Lanka series - ready to start

The Indo-Lankan series is ready to start after a long time. In fact, I did read that the Indian team has not won a series in Lanka for 22 years! It was probably Azhar who won the series with help of Sachin and Kumble in the team (the lone win was well-planned out by Indians). Even Ganguly and MSD could not achieve a win - wonder what the new permanent captain will do.

The Lankans are vulnerable this time after series defeat against Pakistan in multiple formats. The aging Sangakkara will play his last test match in this series and in my view, will hold the biggest challenge for Indians. If they can get him out quickly, the Indians will have a good chance to win the series.

The bowlers have done well in the warm-up match, especially Ishant Sharma. But who will the management pick as part of the playing eleven - Bhuvi and Umesh? Along with the three, two spinners will be picked and my suspicion is that it will be Harbhajan who will miss out.

The batting will be made of Dhawan, KL Rahul, Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane - Pujara seems to be out of favor at the moment with Rohit edging ahead. If Rohit cannot make runs in the first two tests, it will be back to Pujara.

Saha will have all three test matches to prove himself. Especially with his batting, Saha is one who has not contributed much. There are players like Samson, Uthappa are waiting in the wings.

If the rains do not disturb the series, India should edge Sri Lanka. But, it looks like rain will have the last say. My guess is that the series will be shared.

IPL-8 - Match-7 - Punjab go past Mumbai Indians

Punjab had rattled off a large score thanks to George Bailey (and cameos by Vijay and Sehwag) and picked up so many early wickets of Mumbai that Harbhajan's blitzkrieg could not change the result.

Spot-fixing - Random thoughts

I do not have anything to say about the spot-fixing except that there is a lot going on behind the scenes.

While the television channels and journalists are speaking & writing away to glory about Srinivasan, there are few points that are still puzzling to me

1. If Srinivasan gets into trouble because he is father-in-law to Gurunath, is Dhoni not to be troubled? After all, he is a Vice President at India Cements!
2. Sreesanth had alleged that the slap-gate controversy was covered up. This 1-2 weeks before he was caught. 12th April was the date he mentioned this. Sreesanth was then arrested, as we all know, and in this article Neeraj Kumar (commissioner of Delhi Police) provided a detailed explanation of its investigation that began in early April. Was it after his allegation? Did Sree have any wind of what was coming?
3. Why did I mention point #2? Because when he was arrested, his father blamed Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni for the arrest. Why of all people Harbhajan and Dhoni? 
4. As soon as news of Sreesanth's arrest came out in the open, his brother-in-law alleges foul play and the reason he mentioned was to stop the wedding planned in September!! Why would a wedding get stalled if you were innocent?

Anyway, few points that I thought were not being covered as much as the others and I will leave it to you to fill the gaps.

The Aussies are here...

There has been no talks about a revenge series or a whitewash like the one India faced Down Under. Why? The English test series has ensured that expectations from the Indian team is reduced to the extent that they probably don't start the series as favourites! While I would have agreed with that status earlier, the retirement of Michael Hussey before this series makes the competition more equal.

One cannot compare the English team with the Australian side simply because of the experience that the former had at their disposal. Alistair Cook and Kevin Pietersen were superb in the test matches against India which were instrumental in their win. Michael Clarke has to find one more batsman who can do a similar job in the test matches - will it be Shane Watson or David Warner? What happens in such situations is that there is a virtually unknown player who rises to the fore and makes a name for himself. I am betting on Usman Khwaja to do it this time - let us see.

The preparation that the Australian team has been putting has been noteworthy - arriving 10 days early and staying in Chennai to ensure that they adjust to the heat and humidity is a marvellous piece of planning. Compare this to the schedule that the BCCI comes up with. Though the Aussies slumped against little-known off-spinner from the Board Presidents XI team, the practice they received must have been invaluable.

On the Indian front, Dhoni will need to play a bigger role in this series to stop further decline. MSD will not have Gambhir in his squad after a long while - Murali Vijay will be my favourite to play the first test, especially on his home soil. Shikhar Dhawan's technique is suspect against fast bowling and this must be on the minds of selectors also.

The middle-order will have Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in their roles that they have been occupying for the last few series. Will this test series be Sachin's last one? Will Virat Kohli regain his form? One of Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja will play the first test and knowing Dhoni's quest for players with multi-skills, he will once again opt for Jadeja to play at No. 6. Dhoni might also opt to come up at No.6 and then have the troika of Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha play together.

Harbhajan's exploits against Australia (especially at home) is well-known and thus Dhoni will try to play that card once again. The combined batting of Ashwin and Harbhajan will be better than what Jadeja can provide and thus it does not look like a bad decision at all. Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda are the pacers in the side and unless Ishant's ankle gives him a big issue, it will be Dinda who will sit out of the playing eleven.

Overall, the series seems to be interesting between two teams who are equal on paper but the Indians might be slightly ahead because of home conditions. Will their team members grab the opportunity to show that they can emulate their predecessors of 2010s?

Indian team at Nagpur - chaos abound

Mohinder Amarnath remarked that he wanted MS Dhoni to be ousted but he was not allowed to do so! Who was his choice for replacement? Gambhir or Sehwag? Both of them are not having the best of runs for a long time now. Who else would Mohinder have suggested?

Sunil Gavaskar said that Yuvraj and Harbhajan were made scrapegoats for the debacle in Kolkata! Who else did Gavaskar want to drop?

It looks like there are many ex-players who want change to be introduced but not clear on how or who will the change get impacted!

Nobody wants to suggest that Sachin Tendulkar needs to be dropped purely because of respect for the legend but who will bell the cat? Everyone suggests the selectors to have a chat with SRT - will they do it? Of course, no!

BCCI have insisted that they do not enforce any decisions on the selection committee - what does Mr. Srinivasan have to say?

The additions to the squad for the final test were surprising to many - one of them is Dhoni's CSK team-mate - Ravindra Jadeja while the other is Dhoni's favourite mascot (one who has been part of two World Cup winning teams) - Piyush Chawla!

If Sreesanth was available, maybe he would have been picked instead of Awana! By the way, where is Praveen Kumar now? Was he not the one bowler who came out of the English sojourn with his head high?

What is amazing is the lack of sound-bites from Duncan Fletcher - ten losses since he came on board must have made him tense!

Will Nagpur see a change in Dhoni's luck? Let us see. First, he has to lose the toss to get back his old form!

2012 Mumbai Test - India caught in their own web

MS Dhoni would have been happy with the wicket, his team composition as well as his luck with the toss. For other than this, there was nothing that worked in the match (other than Pujara and Ashwin with the bat in the first innings). Dhoni did not factor his own batsmen's incompetencies against quality spin bowling (how he wished he had the recently retired Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman in his batting eleven!)

For most of the match, the commentators showed the pitch map as well as the pace of English bowlers in comparison with the Indians. Though this was true, the Indian bowlers were not consistent and disciplined in their attack. Every over there was one ball that would give runs to the batsman and rotate the strike. Dhoni's captaincy has deteriorated so much that he is now ball-following mostly. He is not trying to make things happen but instead moving the fielders to where the ball went the previous delivery.

In the second innings, none of the batsmen (other than Gambhir of course) played more than 20 deliveries! What else can you expect with such a performance. Gambhir also wanted to prove that he still deserved his place in the team rather than rotate strike and score some runs for his team. Though one can praise Kevin Pietersen and Alistair Cook for their batting, it was the failure of the Indian batsmen to come to terms with the pitch that did the main damage.

Sachin Tendulkar played more like a debutant rather than one with 192 matches to his credit. Virat Kohli's stroke selection was suspect while Yuvraj showed his weakness against quality spin. Sehwag did well until he met Monty. Harbhajan's selection was a surprise and seemed to be on course on Day 1 but it has to be remembered that he did not get wickets even in Ranji matches - how can he be expected to make miracles in test matches? He was the one who bowled faster usually but on this track if the English bowlers could make such a big impact, why couldnt he? Not every question can be answered with Pietersen and Cook's brilliance!

What will happen in the next two tests? Will Dhoni still ask for a turning track, considering that the opposition has Monty and Swanny in their eleven? Kolkata will have the answers for us!

Champions League starts

The T20 Champions League started on Saturday with crowds thronging the stadium even when it was held in South Africa. It reiterates the fact that club cricket has in fact won over the others in the T20 format. The ICC should encourage this more than the farcical T20 World Cup that it conducts every two years.

Four IPL teams are in the fray while two each from Australia and South Africa domestic T20 tournaments vie for top honours. Mumbai Indians, who won the previous version, will be eager to show their mettle once again while Chennai Super Kings, under MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming (coach) will be waiting to regain their lost pride.

While all this is happening in South Africa, the domestic cricket has started back in India - Duleep Trophy to be precise. Some of the stars whose team have not qualified are appearing in this tournament more to catch the eyes of the selectors in anticipation of the English and Australian team visits.

What can one expect from the Champions League? Lot of natural spills and artificial thrills on the ground while some players might be eager to make their presence felt. The players from the Caribbean will be looking to increase their bank balance (even though they won the T20 World Cup last week!) while the ones like Kevin Pietersen, Harbhajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan will be looking to restore old pride.

Nothing to write home about nor anything that you will miss if you blink your eye.

Indian teams announced

The Indian teams for the New Zealand series as well as the T20 World Cup were announced today by the selection committee who were meeting for the last time under Krish Srikkanth. The selectors also announced the 'A' squad to travel to New Zealand and it is quite interesting to see the names that have been included in the squads. Let us go through each one of the teams below:

• Test team against New Zealand at home - 
• VVS Laxman was in the limelight and everyone were looking at what the selectors thought would be - drop him or give him a chance to regain his form back. Yes, Laxman flopped during the tour Down Under but who did well (other than Virat Kohli) on that tour? If Rohit Sharma was given five chances in the ODI to improve his form, why not give Laxman another chance? 
• Rahane gets into the test squad on the basis of his good showing in first-class cricket - mostly an insurance for unexpected injuries to Sehwag or Gambhir. But, the question still remains - why are we forcing Rahane in the opening slot? Why not look at him in the middle-order? Kohli, Pujara and Rahane will be the fulcrum in the middle-order around which the Indian future will revolve. 
• Suresh Raina in test squad is as astonishing as the return of Piyush Chawla in place of Rahul Sharma - question here is whether Rahul was admonished for his doping offence in Pune. 
• Ishant Sharma's fitness has not been proved since the end of the Australian tour - do we have any insight further?
• T20 World Cup squad -
• Did Harbhajan Singh's county stint helped him to gain a slot in the T20 World Cup even though he did not play any T20s? 6 wickets in 4 first-class matches and 5 wickets in 2 List A matches does not give confidence to anyone! Does he replace Pragyan Ojha? Why? Ojha played just one match in the recent series and got hit in the nets - was the injury so bad to warrant his ouster?
• Yuvraj Singh has not played any cricket - forget first-class or club cricket (other than the warm-up matches at NCA). How was he selected? Is it based on emotion more than form?
• Rohit Sharma makes an appearance once again - on what basis? Based on the form that he displayed in the Sri Lankan ODIs? Come on, Srikkanth and team! You could have done better.
• Piyush Chawla once again to replace Rahul Sharma. Was his inclusion made as a good-luck charm? Remember that he has been a part of the T20 and Fifty-overs World Cup squads! There is no other reason for his presence.
• Balaji has done well in IPL and has matured with age. He is a good choice probably taken due to the slow tracks in Sri Lanka. But, the pace of Balaji as well as Pathan will be making the Indian team very similar in nature!
• 'A' team to New Zealand
• Abhinav Mukund did no do well on the West Indies tour but he has been retained - this is good for a change. Giving him a continuous reign under the Indian cap will do him good in the long run.
• Vinay Kumar and Rahul Sharma make it to the 'A' team from the senior team - must be depressing to receive such a 'reverse promotion'. They will do well to perform on this tour and make a comeback.
• Jayadev Unadkat is back! God knows where he goes between his appearances for the Indian cap (either 'A' or senior team)
• I am personally looking out for Ashok Menaria, Ambati Rayudu and Surya Kumar Yadav - they should grab these opportunities to stand out from the crowd.

Eng-Ind series - When India had a chance

Though England have won the series against India convincingly, there were incidents when everyone involved felt that the Indian team had a fair chance of matching the English, at least in the first two test matches


First test at Lords

Zaheer Khan walks out of the attack after bowling a little more than 13 overs, reducing the Indian attack to a three-bowler (including an off-color Harbhajan). From a total of 62-2, England launch a score of 474-8 before declaring their innings. MS Dhoni is forced to exchange his gloves for the ball and comes close to taking Pietersen's wicket (denied by the DRS)

Dravid and VVS Laxman are going good at 182-3 when VVS gifts his wicket away. The Indians fold up for 286, barely avoiding the follow-on. 

Ishant Sharma puts his best in an inspired piece of bowling to reduce England to 62-5. He does not return after lunch, giving Morgan and Prior enough time to break away and eventually Broad decides to cut loose against the tired bowling (162 runs in 28 overs). England set India a target of 458. 

Gambhir gets hit on the elbow in the 2nd innings, ruling him out of the opening slot in the crucial final innings of the test next as well as the test match. 

Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni take tea on the final day at 218-5 in 81 overs. With one more session to follow, all hopes are on these two to take India to safety. Dhoni had been there and done the rescue act during the Lords test on the previous tour. This time, he edges behind to start the procession of the Indians to end at 261 in the 97th over.

2nd Test at Nottingham. India were supposed to be the comeback Kings.  

• They did start on the right note by reducing England 124-8. Broad and Swann came together to take the total to 221 (adding 97 runs in a little more than 18 overs).
• Rahul Dravid (again) and Yuvraj Singh were going great guns at 267-4 when Yuvraj poked to one outside off against Broad. Result was that India folded out to 288 (just 67 runs lead!)
• Harbhajan Singh picked up an injury, once again reducing the Indian attack to a three-member show. Yuvraj and Raina bowled the additional overs to spare MSD the plight of bowling.
• England were 24-1 by end of 2nd days play and quickly went to 57-2 before the Ian Bell show started. KP, Morgan, Prior and then Bresnan and Broad dismantled the Indian bowling to such an extent that the team was demoralized. The team must have lost their confidence during this innings - so much that their intensity got lower and lower after this mark. There was no way the Indians were going to extend the match to the final day. The humiliation was complete when the team was reduced to 55-6. After taking a 67-run lead, the match was lost by a whopping 319 runs - unbelievable.

After these two test matches, India were always playing catch-up. If only some of these chances were taken, the outcome of the series would have been different. Do you agree?

Related articles

• Eng-Ind - England go up 1-0 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Did the Indians have any luck at all against England (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

IPL4 - the final lines are drawn

RCB made Mumbai rue their indifferent matches over their last week by thrashing them in Chennai. Chris Gayle started off with a powerful display against hapless Abu Ahmed (why did SRT do this mistake?). He was joined by his partner Mayank Agarwal, who took on Harbhajan Singh - yet another evidence that the Punjabi is losing his plot. Though the latter batsmen could not convert the start into a 200+ score, the target was much more than Mumbai could handle. Look at the worm below - the (R-B) difference was always over 40 at any point of time - signs that Mumbai Indians were never in the hunt during the chase.

Today, it will be the match between the South-Indian teams once again. The charismatic MSD against the cool Dan Vettori. There will be others who will contribute to the match but how the captains think out their strategy will be key. There are many mini-plots in the match - Gayle against Ashwin, Kohli vs Badrinath (for the Indian middle-order slot), Hussey vs Vettori, Morkel vs Mayank and so on. My favorites - CSK.

IPL4 Match 44 - Pune lose their 7th successive match

One over! All it took was one over of Alfonso Thomas to take Mumbai to set Pune a target of 161. 28 runs were scored of that over by Kieron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh. Despite the heroics of Manish Pandey and Yuvraj Singh, the Pune Warriors were always behind the required rate.

IPL4 Match 25 - Harbhajan sinks CSK

Badrinath's valiant effort came to naught, thanks to Harbhajan's heroics - a long time since the Sardar took five wickets in any format. Rohit Sharma had given a good platform for the Mumbai bowlers which proved to be beyond CSK's reach. The last 'up' in the graph showing the effect Harbhajan's last over had on the match.

World Cup 2011 - The D-day is here tomorrow

The D-day after 6 weeks of matches in the 2011 World Cup is tomorrow and everyone is excited about it in India and Sri Lanka. Will it be a repeat of Lords 1983 or Johannesburg 2003 for India? Will it be Lahore 1996 or Bridgetown 2007 for Sri Lanka?

The excitement might not match that of India-Pakistan or India-Australia but the Indians should be careful of not letting their preparation down for this finale. The spirit also would have been much more aggressive in the quarters and semis but in the final, it will be a different ball-game in the final. Therein lies the major problem for both sides, more so for the Indians.

The two teams have played each other so much that they know their opposition by heart. The teams have players who used to play together for last 3 years in IPL - sample this:

• Delhi Daredevils had Sehwag, Gambhir, Dilshan, Ashish Nehra
• Kings XI Punjab had Yuvraj, Piyush Chawla, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Sreesanth
• Mumbai Indians had Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Zaheer Khan
• Chennai SuperKings had MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ashwin, Muralitharan 

With the camaraderie they shared in the dressing room, it is highly unlikely that tempers will rise tomorrow. The public will however like the teams to be charged up to give their best show on the field. Pakistan seemed to be edgy on the field in the semis but Sri Lanka will arrive well-prepared. 

The matches played in Mumbai earlier in the tournament were high-scoring matches but Jayawardene feels that the pitch looked different. Here is an interesting article talking about the curator and how he feels if Sachin spends 30 minutes at the crease, he will score a century.

Ashish Nehra and Angelo Matthews have been ruled out of the final match because of injuries sustained in the semis. Randiv has been called up to replace Matthews even though Perera and Kulasekara were available - does it show the thinking on the Lankan side about the pitch? India, though, are still unsure about Nehra's replacement, as per Dhoni's conference. MSD feels that his team is peaking at the right time and will treat the match as another one, not as a final. This tactic worked in the earlier Knock-out matches and he is sure that it will work again. 

Kapil Dev cautioned the public that Dhoni should not be judged by this final alone but I am sure he will be happy if Dhoni joins his club as a Cup-winning captain. His pedigree so far has been good - captain of winning T20 World Cup team, winner of IPL and Champions League and captain of No.1 test team. Tomorrow, if the team plays as well as it can, the ODI World Cup will join the list. 

Sangakkara though put a spin by saying that he thought that the Indians deserved to be called as the favorites. Is it just mind game at action or any other strategy from the Lankan camp?

There are many mini-battles in the final game where each one will try to outdo the other:

• Openers - SRT and Sehwag vs Dilshan and Tharanga. The Lankan pair have scored more and frequently but tomorrow iwll be a different ball game. Tharanga has not done well against India - can he repeat his heroics earlier in the Cup?
• Pace - Malinga vs Zaheer Khan. The strike bowlers with the new ball on both sides have been phenomenal. Both have played in earlier Cup finals and have experienced failure. This is the time they step up to make the extra step.
• Spin - Harbhajan vs Muralitharan. Murali, on one leg, will be better than any other spinner from Sri Lanka. But, the Indians are those who have picked him better than the others. Harbhajan comes to the final with the confidence of bowling well against Pakistan. Having got Afridi out must have delighted him no end, for his figures have been destroyed many a time by the Pak Pathan.

Of course, this is not to belittle the others like Jayawardene, Sangakkara or Yuvraj Singh but these battles will decide the course the match more than any others.

My prediction - India wins the match but Sachin does not score a century. He will definitely take this at the end of the game, even if he fails with the bat. Castrol Index puts the Lankans ahead - 172-155. Do you agree - I dont think so.

Related articles

• World Cup 2011 - Sri Lanka stands before 83 repeat - Part I (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

World Cup 2011 - India end up 2nd in group

West Indies had not won a match against teams other than Bangladesh (or lowly ranked teams) for almost 2 years. India is currently the second-ranked ODI team in the world, going into the World Cup. Of course, they were one of the favorites to win the tournament at home. If one sees the scorecard after 2-3 years, the first thought that will come to mind is that it was an easy win for the Indians with 80 runs separating the two teams. Castrol Index also suggests a 34 difference between the 2 teams (165-131)

But that was not the way the match went. India started on the back-foot thanks to the perfect ball from Ravi Rampaul, who is another bowler who fancies taking wickets against the Indians. Gambhir threw his bat at a wide one to be taken on the boundary. Virat Kohli and Yuvraj then started a rearguard action to get the batting back on track. Yuvraj was lucky to be dropped twice by Sammy in two consecutive overs, both difficult chances. Kohli was his usual self, scoring runs at a confidence that seems to be growing every match.

Yuvraj was suffering from 'stomach cramps' (as he mentioned in his speech) and it was difficult to understand why the team management did not ask him to come back. He is invaluable now in his bowling avatar and one did not know whether he will get well for the second innings. He continued and stuck to his job gamely while Kohli decided to throw his bat at an inopportune time. The long batting order has somehow given the Indians a sense of over-confidence on the next set of batsmen to follow. Hence, those who are settled feel that they should start taking more risks with the sense of security based on the lineup on paper. This game, the batsmen were a bit careful while the overs were running away but even then, could not help in avoiding the collapse.

Dhoni had mentioned in the previous match that batsmen should not play for the gallery but one could blame him for the same error in this match. Bishoo was bowling so well that either he or Yuvi were not able to get him away. MSD thought that he could do his skip down the track like yesteryears and hit him off the line. But, he was second best this case. Raina fell sweeping and Yuvraj was out just before the Batting PowerPlay was supposed to start. Familiar tale once again - Pathan was yorked by Rampaul while Harbhajan was dismissed by a great catch by Pollard. Ashwin threw his bat around but the others did not stay with him again. Here is where the attitude of Munaf Patel was irritating to say the least. He deems that he is in the eleven to bowl only and hence need not contribute with the bat or field - once this campaign is over, the first thing the selectors have to do is to dump him.

The presence of Ashwin in the team gives Dhoni an opportunity to use him in PowerPlays along with Zaheer Khan, something he promptly utilized. Patel was not to be seen even after 25 overs. Harbhajan was bowling as usual but things were looking good for Windies with Devon Smith and Sarwan rotating the strike and scoring runs quite easily until Zak was brought back to make use of the reverse swing.

Once the breakthrough was obtained, the innings went on a downward spiral - Dhoni attacked with the spinners at one end and pace at the other to pick up wickets frequently. Yuvraj again picked up wickets with his loop and spin, something that is missing when Bhajji bowls! The fielding was decent and the Indians did not need any further invitation to win the match.

Ashwin performed well and that meant that the Indian team has another wicket-taking bowler to its arsenal. How it utilizes him and the others in the Quarter-final remains to be seen.

World Cup 2011 - Yusuf and India's trick

Harsha Bhogle observed (nothing unusual) the pinch-hitter theory adopted by Mitchell Johnson in the recent ODI between the Ashes rivals - as mentioned, it was being used by many teams years ago but of late, the occurrence has reduced. Harsha gives a good example of how the PowerPlay will be utilized:

The thinking is quite simple: throw in one of your lesser-valued batsmen, and therefore a lesser wicket, to take on the fourth, fifth and sixth bowlers of the opposition. If the attack comes off, you force the better bowlers to return and weaken the bowling in the third Powerplay. If it doesn't come off, you've lost only a bit. It is the good old pinch-hitter theory, but in the middle overs. Would it be possible, I wonder, to see a Harbhajan walk in during the 30th over?

This brought me to another similar thought. Yusuf Pathan, as we all know, has shown the world what impact he can have in the slog overs. But, he has a weakness against the short ball - though he has managed to negate it in his own style of taking it on the body. If the Indian team, after having a good start from Sehwag and Sachin, pick up the batting PowerPlay sometime in the overs 30-40 (when typically the likes of Dhoni and Raina will be at the crease), it will force the opposing captain to bring his faster (and better) bowlers to operate then.

What this means is that their quota will be reduced by the time the junior Pathan strides to the crease. It will give him lesser number of overs to face from the best bowlers in the opposition (thereby not having a problem with the short ball). If you remember the ODI in South Africa where Pathan and later Harbhajan took India past the winning post, this was exactly what happened. Ashish Nehra had the relatively simple task of facing Johan Botha in the final over while Steyn and Morkel had finished their quotas!!

Will the Indian Management use this technique in the World Cup?        

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• SA ODIs - India level the series with luck (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Best World Cup so far for Tendulkar - 2003

After the disastrous World Cup campaign in 1999, the Indian team structure was overhauled completely thanks to the match-fixing scandal that erupted. A professional structure was brought in, with an international coach selected (John Wright being the first of the many illustrious ones).

Sachin Tendulkar was made the captain on the tour Down Under but he was, as he admitted later, affected by the match-fixing scandal. Sourav Ganguly became captain almost by default then and led the team astutely. He supported a set of players like Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh who flourished under the captaincy of Dada.

Sachin, Rahul and Sourav had supporting actors in Yuvraj, Kaif and Sehwag in the lineup. Dinesh Mongia was the other batsmen in the order who could bowl a few overs as well. The team management impressed upon Rahul Dravid the advantages of him keeping wickets so that they could play an extra batsman. Only twelve players were played by India in the entire tournament that saw Sachin score more than 650 runs and emerge as the highest scorer. Harbhajan was prefered over Anil Kumble as the main spinner in most of the matches - a arguable decision by the skipper.

There were many moments to remember from the Indian team throughout the tournament:

• Sachin's attack against Pakistan - the first impression everyone has about this innings is the square cut of Shoaib Akhtar over point for a six. The Indians were chasing a score of 270+ and everyone expected the Indians to come hard, especially the opening pair of Sehwag and Sachin. Sehwag was kept quiet for sometime but Sachin started the onslaught (he was sleepless the previous night as he admitted) that was blistering. The asking run-rate came down quickly and the Indian victory became a formality. What a match it was, for all the Indian fans - unforgettable!
• Sourav's centuries against minnows - Ganguly scored three centuries in this World Cup, all against the minnows (Namibia and Kenya). Though they cannot be considered as great ones, they were timely ones that helped India reach the finals.
• Off-field issues after the first few matches - India lost the match against Australia by a large margin while just struggling to get past Holland. This triggered uproar within India - effigies were burnt and houses targeted. This acted like a wake-up call for the Indians for the performance picked up dramatically and the Indians won 7 consecutive matches to storm the finals.
• Ashish Nehra's bowling against England - One of the seven wins included the win against England when Ashish Nehra turned a sensational spell to dismiss six English batsmen, mostly being caught behind the wickets and slip catches.
• Dismal bowling in the finals against Australia - The first over saw an over-excited Zaheer Khan mouthing abuses to the Oz opening batsmen. This made the pair more determined to tear the bowling apart. The result was an overwhelming total of 359 for the Australians - 125 more than what the Indians could achieve.

The top two batsmen in the tournament were Sachin and Sourav but they couldnt get going in the finals. But, this must have given Sachin Tendulkar more delight than any of the earlier World Cups. He scored well in almost all important matches in the tournament which got the Indian cause moving. He claimed the Man of the Tournament award from another legend, Gary Sobers, but he would also agree that winning the Cup would have been a more happier moment for him than the individual rewards. The Indian team had made great strides to reach the finals in this version but they succumbed to the best team in the Decade then. The tournament also saw the crux of the Indian batting performing to their potential.

Javagal Srinath was recalled from retirement by the captain to guide and mentor the fellow fast bowlers. The trio of Srinath, Zaheer and Nehra captured 16, 18 and 15 wickets respectively - complementing the batting prowess - check this link for the performance against the Kiwis. Srinath retired gracefully after the Cup and remains active in the local Karnataka cricket, mentoring youngsters.

Mohammed Kaif was the fittest player in the entire Indian team for a long time - proven by tests that tested his strength, endurance and fitness. He played a critical role with his fielding and down-the-order batting - combining to form critical partnerships that would take India past the winning post many a time. He would then fade away by performances that dropped over a period of time. He still plays domestic cricket in India (hoping for a recall) but he will be the first to agree that his time has moved on.

Next is 2007 World Cup in West Indies.

India Vs Pakistan


Sachin on the same match


Ian Chappell speaks about Ricky Ponting vs India in the final

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SA ODIs - India go ahead in the series

Yusuf in full flow
Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina are suspect against short-pitched bowling. They are playing the ODI series against South Africa, who have the deadliest opening bowling attack in the World, on their backyard. They are easy meat!!

At 93-5 last evening, this must have been the thought that entered Greame Smith's mind. The duo survived and how! A 75-run partnership at better than run-a-ball, taking the target required down to 53. True, luck was with them and there were some catches dropped by the Proteas but the youngsters rode their luck and turned the tide.

This win will give the Indians, especially Pathan and Raina, a world of confidence. This victory, coming as it did, against the mighty bowling attack on a pitch that played few tricks must give the Indian team a huge boost going into the World Cup. They exactly did the opposite of what the South Africans did during the second ODI - keep their cool. Harbhajan and Zaheer and later Nehra gritted it out, huffed, puffed, missed and eventually scored runs in every way they could. Dhoni must have been really happy that without his contribution, the team could get past the winning score.

The South Africans showed many weakness areas in this ODI again - the ability to keep their cool seems to have gone out of the nature of the South African cricketers. The absence of Kallis shows the true nature of the team and their dependency. Once Amla and Smith get out, they are vulnerable. This loss will truly hurt their psyche more than anything - how they recover from these two losses remains to be seen. They lost two consecutive matches at home back in 2006 against the Aussies though they won the series. The last series they lost was in 2009 against England (2 matches were abandoned). Will the Indians be lucky this series?    

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SA Series - Draw would be the right result

Best All-rounder today
South Africa after the 3rd day, spoke about adopting a safety-first approach - making sure there were enough runs on the board before thinking about a target to set. So much so, for a team that was favorites to win the test series even though they were ranked lower. This approach, everyone thought, was a defeatist one. There was a  repetition of the old nature - succumbing under pressure.

Would they choke today? India started in the right fashion - taking the first two wickets in no time. Harbhajan Singh bowled in the right areas to take the overnight batsmen out. This was followed by the wicket of AB De Viliers, thanks to an excellent spell by Zaheer Khan.


Lunch was taken with South Africa at 121 for the loss of five wickets. Jacques Kallis started putting pressure on the batsmen by unleashing his reverse-sweeps against Harbhajan. Jacques Kallis. Take a bow, mate. There is no greater all-rounder in international cricket who has played cricket after the era of Gary Sobers. No bowler could trouble him on a day which had enough for the bowlers. He was in trouble because of his side-strain - there were many instances where pain started to trouble him repeatedly. He overcame all these issues and scored his second century of the match. With his hundred, he left Ponting behind on the number of centuries scored. Pure master-class.

Prince also fell soon but Mark Boucher gave ample support to Kallis. The wicket-keeper had not made any major contribution to the batting throughout the series - this was a time for him to come good. He did more than that - he was good in adding runs to pile the misery on the Indians. A century partnership between the two took the score to a respectable one. Dale Steyn followed his heroics with the ball to put on a fifty partnership. The match was slipping away from the Indians now. Morkel also added runs to the board, taking the match beyond the reach of India now. South Africa could have declared after reaching 300 and put the Indians to bat for few overs today but the thought of Sehwag must have scared them.

Harbhajan and Zaheer got tired after their initial spells and couldnt get any proper support from the other bowlers. Harbhajan was expected to lead the attack on this pitch and take most of the wickets - though he did take most of the wickets, it came a bit too late. Ishant missed the last opportunity to make an impact while Sreesanth was wayward, as has been his nature. The Indians, one thought, missed the bowling of Sehwag who could have bowled wicket to wicket. He would have brought in his bag of tricks to truly test the Proteans. His shoulder injury prevented him to bowl this series.

Tomorrow, the Indians will have to play 90 overs in the thought that they have a chance to win the match. If they try to bat the day out, they will have more chances of losing the match than saving it. 340 runs in 90 overs is almost four runs per over. It will be a hot day again tomorrow and it remains to be seen how the four bowlers perform (without the presence of Kallis). Each bowler will have to bowl more than twenty overs and try to get the Indians out. Looking at the bowling averages in the test series, that will be good enough for them to take ten Indian wickets if they bowl in the same way they have done throughout (Strike rates are - Steyn 32 balls per wicket, Morkel 46bpw, Harris 123bpw, Tsotsobe 83bpw). Maybe the Indians should take a leaf out of the batting of Harbhajan and Zaheer Khan against Steyn and put pressure by attacking him. Yes, easier said than done.

How the pitch behaves tomorrow remains to be seen - will it continue to be the way it seemed to behave in the last two sessions of the day? If so, Indians will think they have a chance to draw the match. If Sehwag gets going, they might fancy a win as well. As of today, the sessions won by each team remains equal with six each.

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