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.

Sreesanth and spot-fixing

This post is not to support Sreesanth or look into the spot-fixing incident that has rocked IPL on the morning of 16th May. ESPNCricinfo was quick to put up the overs in question into a video (attached below).

What is interesting is the fact that there are hundreds of crores of money being used in this type of fixing. How sure is the bowler to give away more than 14 runs? Agreed that he will bowl badly in the over and offer bad balls. It is also upto the batsman to hit those runs, right? 

For example, let us look at the video closely.

1. In his over, Chandila bowls a wide ball down the leg side to Finch (over 2.1) but Finch is not able to put it away for a boundary. Result is only a single.
2. Similarly, Sreesanth in his over (3.3 of the innings) balls a delivery wide outside the off stump but Gilchrist is not able to time it and there is no run given.

So, all I am saying is that even if fixing is done, it seems to be very risky proposition to be able to pull this off successfully. Obviously, I am not supporting it (repeating it again) but it seems crazy to me.

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!

England-India test series preview

• 2000th match in history of test cricket
• 100th test match between India and England
• 1st test in a new series between the No.1 and No.3 in ICC Rankings
• Sachin Tendulkar on 99 in the number of centuries (tests + ODIs)
• Sachin with a sub-40 highest score at Lords

It does not get any bigger than this as a build-up to the test series that starts this Thursday. The return of Sachin, Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth to the test squad will add strength to the Indian team. The English team is looking at the pinnacle of the ICC rankings by toppling the Indian team. 

The Indian team did not get good practice on English soil in the single warm-up match last week. The last time they toured, they played the ODI tri-series and two warm-up matches (one of them had Strauss in the line-up) before the first test. Obviously, the result of the series was 1-0 in favor of the Indians. This time, it is just one match against Somerset to adapt to the conditions. The English pitches typically suit the batsmen on a normal sunny day but change their stripes rapidly after a passing shower. This is where the Indian team has to be careful about. The English bowlers could not dislodge the Sri Lankan batsmen mostly during the three test series except for a bizarre session when the Lankans collapsed.

Players to look for will be Alistair Cook and Ian Bell from the English batting line-up. Andy Strauss and Kevin Pietersen will be under pressure thanks to their recent failures. Similarly, Rahul Dravid and Suresh Raina will be on the spotlight after their successes in the Caribbean islands. 

On the bowling front, Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma can support Zaheer Khan in driving the advantage towards India. Harbhajan's lack of form will be worrying but after his 400-wicket landmark, he will be itching to go flat out. How much Greame Swann can trouble the batsmen will be key to the English bowling attack when the ball does not do much. The tall bowlers will be looking for the pitch to help their height and swing but will the pitches help?

Shane Warne thinks England will win 1-0 but I feel that there is a high chance of a drawn series. 

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IPL4 Match 3 - RCB deny dream debut for Kochi

RCB flexed their muscles at the end of their chase to deny the debutants, Kochi Tuskers, a dream start in IPL4. AB De Viliers guided the team through the chase and as can be seen in the worm below, the over bowled by Gomez (17th) proved to be vital. Mahela opted for Gomez in place of the mercurial Sreesanth but that turned out to be helpful for RCB. VVS Laxman and McCullum had given a good start for Kochi in the first innings with their own style of play but the score put up was not good enough at the end.

 

World Cup 2011 - India wins the 10th edition of World Cup

India with the 2011 World Cup (courtesy Yahoo ICC Cricket Site)

After a disastrous 2007 World Cup performance, the Indians have come back and won the 2011 World Cup with a great performance by the team, soaking in all the pressure. This was one of the qualities that the Indians have displayed throughout the Knock-out matches in this tournament - not letting the targets get into their mind but concentrating on the smaller sub-targets to get the scoreboard ticking. Sachin Tendulkar's sixth sojourn turned out to be lucky for him, even though he did not make a big contribution to the final game.

MS Dhoni's selections may not have worked always but he had the courage to accept his mistakes in public. The Lankans had made wholesale changes in the bowling attack, considering that the opposition was India. Kulasekara was brought in to swing the new ball as well as utilize his high strike-rate against Sehwag. But, the Mumbai pitch did not favor him at any time - his bowling turned out to be the right cannon-fodder for the batsmen, releasing the pressure that was being built by Malinga. Suraj Randiv was again preferred to Ajantha Mendis since the Indians had worked out the leg-spinner very well. Perera was brought in as he was in the similar mould as Angelo Matthews.

After the controversy in the toss, the match started on the right note for the Indians. Zaheer Khan, after his disastrous spell in 2003 final, had made up his mind to put the ball in the right place and ask questions to the opening pair of Sri Lanka. The openers, also, were reluctant to be more aggressive than usual because of the loss of confidence over their middle-order. The loss of Angelo Matthews hit them more and the openers were looking to keep wickets in hand more than run-scoring. The hesitation led to the dismissal of Tharanga by a good delivery by Zaheer. Sreesanth, as Ian Chappell had predicted in the pre-game show, was a gamble taken by Dhoni - not working as much as he had liked. Munaf Patel was brought in his place and very quickly MSD realized that he needed to get rid of Sreesanth's ten overs quickly.

Harbhajan was introduced and started to bowl in a strange round-of-wicket line mostly. Luckily, he got the prize wicket of Dilshan with the help of an inside edge. Dilshan's stay at the crease was largely uneventful, not the kind that he would have been proud of. Jaywardene walked into the crease then and started consolidating the innings in a way that is unique to him. He was scoring at run-a-ball without making a 'shot in anger' (as the commentators would say). Sangakkara has liked the Indian attack so much that he makes big scores very frequently - he seemed to be on his way to another big score before he got out to Yuvraj Singh. Again, the left-armer picking up a wicket to break the partnership, as he has done all tournament.

Samaraweera and Jayawardene conjured a fifty-plus partnership, keeping wickets in hand while rotating the strike. The Indian fielding so far had been really impressive, just like their performances in the earlier two matches. Dhoni had an additional fielder in the circle to cut out singles that would have been on offer. All this came to naught in the last 10 overs - the Lankans through Mahela, Kulasekara, Perera hit more than 90 runs to post a challenging target for the Indians. At the innings break, one felt that the Indians had given 30-40 runs more than what was on par. The pitch was not difficult but the pressure of chasing a target in the final would be high.

The final was another match where Dhoni knew that he had to answer the public for his selection of Sreesanth. His form was patchy but he decided to take the brave move of promoting himself ahead of the hot-favorite Yuvraj Singh. This was not only for the right-left combination but also because of Yuvi's well-documented record against spinners, especially Murali. What a master-stroke the promotion turned out to be - Dhoni combined very well with Gambhir after the early dismissals of Sachin/Sehwag to produce a partnership that kept the required rate under control without taking undue risks. Kohli had done his bit to settle the nerves once the openers had been dismissed till Dilshan took a wonderful one-handed catch to get him out. Gambhir has been orchestrating run-chases successfully many a time in the last 2 overs - this was the occasion when he could use all the learnings of those chases.   

Yuvraj Singh was regarded before the tournament as one of the biggest hitters of the ball and how truly he justified his reputation. He came into the crease when nearly fifty runs were required by India. Dhoni had whittled down the target considerably and all that was required was to stay till the last run was scored - nothing beyond Yuvraj's capability. The batting PowerPlay was a mixed experience for the Indians throughout the tournament and they rightly decided to keep it away until the last five overs of the innings. In the Batting Powerplay, Sangakkara relied more on Kulasekara than Murali (more so because of the dew) only for him to falter. Murali did not have a farewell that he expected, partly due to his injury and partly due to the dew factor.

The Indian team sounded confident even before the tournament and were very keen to get the victory for Sachin Tendulkar. The team was well-prepared before the tournament and that proved vital for them in the final analysis.

WELL DONE TEAM INDIA!!!


CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ENTIRE NATION.

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SA Series - Kallis makes the difference

Truly a Giant!! 
Jacques Kallis did a VVS Laxman (of Durban) today - adding close to eighty runs with the help of the last two wickets in the first innings today. But, in the bargain, South Africa lost a bowler who could bowl quick for 8-10 overs in a day. They also lost a fantastic slip fielder forcing AB De Viliers to field at slips (and then dropping Gautam Gambhir off the bowling of Tsotsobe).

Lady-luck seems to be smiling on the Indians this test match. Not only did they manage to restrict South Africa to 362 (after overnight score of 232-4) today, they started batting on a track bathed in sunlight after the cloudy day yesterday. The loss of Kallis, the bowler, is going to hurt South Africa tomorrow as well.

The wicket seems to have flattened out and removed any sort of movement that was visible in the morning today. The toss was crucial for MSD to win yesterday - the early help to the bowlers helping the Indians control the direction the match started (though they could have done a better job). Sreesanth came out blazing today and restricted the Proteans in the morning today till Kallis did his mono-act once again. He scored yet another century, bringing him on par with Ricky Ponting. Add the 200+ wickets he has taken in test matches - truly a fantastic all-rounder in the mould of the yesteryears' Botham, Imran, Kapil and Hadlee if not the legendary Gary Sobers.

If Greame Smith is becoming the bunny of Zaheer, Sehwag is following his example to become one against Steyn. Rahul Dravid decided to show his running skills and became run-out for the 52nd time in international matches. Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar came together to take the initiative further - scoring runs at a fair clip first but reducing the run-rate towards the close of the day.

With three days to go, the match seems to be in a good position for both sides. If the Indians can take a lead of around one hundred in the test, they will be in a spot to create history. The weather helped the Indians today and if it continues the same way, the advantage will continue to remain with the Indians.

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SA Series - Decider starts tomorrow

Captain CoolSouth Africa start the deciding test match tomorrow against India after losing the previous test in Durban. Momentum might be with India but history is on the side of South Africa. The pitch is supposed to be batsmen-friendly while the bowlers will come into effect if there is rain involved. Today, Smith tweeted that the practice session had been canceled - good news for whoever wins the toss tomorrow - will it be finally MS Dhoni who calls correctly?

Kallis and Steyn have done well on this ground in earlier test matches and they dont require history to remind them about how well they have done against the Indians.

Greame Smith in the press conference admitted that his team was poor in Durban and bemoaned the fact that his team lacked a bit of luck. He clarified that Sreesanth crossed the line by bringing in family issues during his argument - MSD didnt like it and expected the bowler to be on the right side this time. Dhoni felt that the test presented an opportunity to create history.  

Kallis and Amla lead the runs scored in this series thanks to their big century in the first test. Their wickets will be the ones that the Indians will target. Similarly, Steyn and Morkel lead the wickets taken in the series. The Indians should be much more confident about their ability to see off these two bowlers and target the others.

If the Indians can put early pressure on the Proteans with some luck, it will be tough for the South Africans to make a comeback.  

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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!!!   

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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 - Coaches take centre-stage

The coaches of the top two test teams took centre-stage with their views and opinions of the forthcoming series, setting up the context for a good slug-fest for the series.

While Corrie van Zyl remarked that "Record books don't lie" pointing the unimpressive performance of the Indians in SA, Gary Kirsten spoke about the strides made by the Indian team in the near future - "If you look at our performances and results over the past two years you can understand why we are the number one team"

Corrie is assuring the team that IPL or CLT20 experiences will not help the Indian team - he tries to play his mind-games by saying that the pitches will help his bowlers. This does not come as a surprise, considering the fact that the Proteas will have three pace bowlers (+ Kallis) to target the Indians. He must be relieved that his major batsmen, Amla and Smith, have been cleared to play in the series.

Remember this scene enacted in the last Indian series in South Africa?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNW0WTWlKSA


Sreesanth is in the team once again and raring to go or in his words, ready to fly. Will he walk the talk is to be seen? If he does, it will be a big boost to the Indian team on this tour.

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SA series - Dravid and Rice to the fore

Rahul Dravid warned the Proteas that if they prepared green-top pitches, it would back-fire on the hosts as the Indian team had a good bowling attack, probably better than their rivals. Zaheer, Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma will mostly be the line-up for the first test for India. Zaheer has done well on earlier tours while Sreesanth was instrumental in the lone win that India had on the last series. Adding Ishant Sharma to this pair makes the Indian bowling quite strong.

This is also the reason that made ex-captain Clive Rice of South Africa comment that India's attack is better. He is also wary of the knowledge that is brought to the table by Paddy Upton, Eric Simons and of course, the coach Gary Kirsten. In fact, he goes on to make India the favorites for this series. Are the Proteas down-playing their chances so that they can catch the visitors by surprise?

Harsha on the other hand, pits South Africa as the favorites based on history as well as the ability of Indians to struggle against bounce. It is again wishful hope that the trio of pace bowlers that is put forward by the Indians manage to take wickets and bring the Indians strongly into the series. He suggests that the Indian team should emulate the English team that is currently leading the Ashes 1-0 - Sehwag and Gambhir then will be the key for the Indians to post strong totals on the board.

Meanwhile, the Indians are toiling in South Africa using the different types of net pitches out there - surprisingly, Umesh Yadav of the Indian team pinging the legendary Sachin Tendulkar on the side of his helmet being the highlight of the nets so far.

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NZ series - India finish the 2nd innings quickly

India settled the match today very quickly, wrapping up the series in a convincing manner. They were helped by the umpires who had an off-day. The match never looked like ending on a different note, forget ending a day earlier. Rahul Dravid in this test match and Harbhajan Singh in the series have lead well in their roles, keeping the Indians at the top spot of the ICC Rankings.


MS Dhoni did the right strategy by starting the day with Pragyan Ojha. He struck early to put the Black Caps on the back foot. Wickets by Harbhajan and Suresh Raina meant that the NZ team was down to the lower-order batsmen before lunch. Token resistance by the tail was broken by Ishant Sharma. It helped the Indians that Ryder was suffering from calf injury (which has forced him to go back before the ODI series).

The poor NZ batting in the first innings, coupled with the bowling of Ishant Sharma was key for the Indians to make gains in this test very early. The return to form of Sreesanth and Ishant is good for the Indians before they embark on the South African tour. MS Dhoni's innings in this test should have given him a lot of confidence while his request for rest to be provided to Raina must be considered - Pujara is on the sidelines waiting for his chance.

Vettori must be happy with the performance of the team in the first two tests but this test match was beyond the capability of his team. The wicket in this match was a typical Indian wicket with turn and bounce. The form of McCullum must be a good sight for the captain while that of Ross Taylor must be giving him a headache. The reinforcements for the ODI matches will change the mood and set the tone for the new series. 

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India series - Where did the Oz fail?

India finished the test series against Australia at home on a winning note though the difference was not big. The Oz team scored 400+ runs in the first innings of both the test matches but still lost. Where did they fail? Let us go through the team members that formed the composition of the Australian team?

1. Openers - Simon Katich and Shane Watson. The most consistent among the batsmen. Only the last innings in Bengaluru was when they failed to raise a huge stand. They managed to counter the threat of Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth with the new ball but could not manage to score a larger one. Watson did not ball as much as he could have - that might be the only complaint against him in this series.
2. Ricky Ponting - The captain himself agreed that he let the team down by not scoring centuries. He was effective in countering the threat of Harbhajan but not successful in continuing further.
3. The Two Michaels - Clarke and Hussey. While the first one was a complete failure in this series, the second one made starts but again, did not score big (one dismissal was unfortunate in the first test though). It was quite surprising to see Clarke fail since he plays spin so well.
4. Marcus North - He was always under the sword but managed to regain his spot with a century. But still, one feels that he is not convincing as a test cricketer.
5. Tim Paine - One of the successes of the tour - being a replacement of Haddin, he performed well both in front of as well as behind the stumps. Very good prospect for the Aussies.
6. Nathan Hauritz - another failure on this tour. He was not helped by the bad field placement in the last innings of Bengaluru but at no time did he manage to trouble any of the Indian batsmen. Steve Smith will fancy his chances for the Ashes series.
7. Mitchell Johnson - Was the senior-most bowler of the squad but did not behave like one. His performance was up and down in both the tests. Only when he is back in the old form he is known to have, can the Aussie team manage to win test matches with the ease of old.
8. Ben Hilfenhaus - bowled better than the other bowlers and showed that swing was not his only expertise. He could bounce out Sehwag and provide breakthroughs regularly.
9. Doug Bollinger - Injury forced him to miss the latter part of the first test but he showed glimpses of talent that can make him a permanent bowler in the squad.
10. Peter George - Another exciting prospect who learnt test match cricket the hard way. He will have to be tested on home soil once as well.

Overall, the team was talking more of the Ashes rather than the series on hand - maybe that was one of the reasons for the bad performance. There are talks of Ricky Ponting's bad captaincy but who is the next option? Michael Clarke, who had a poor series? These are troubled times for Ponting when he doesn't have the services of all the greats (Mcgrath, Warne, Gillespie, Gilchrist, Hayden) - imagine what would have happened if Clive Lloyd had the current crop of West Indian bowlers as part of his team!

Will the Aussie team bounce back? Definitely. They will show the world that they are still strong at home by beating the English team at the Ashes series.

Watch the Betfair page for betting on the Ashes series.

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India beat Australia easily in Bengaluru

The Indian team finally won a match in Bengaluru!!! Easily than what was expected at the end of the fourth day of the test match. Thanks to a debutant and another young opener, the platform was laid for the veterans (Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid) to take the team across the target.


Before that, Sreesanth and Zaheer picked up the remaining wickets in the morning fairly quickly to wrap up the Oz innings. Overall, it was a team effort with the ball which ensured that even after scoring 400 runs in the first innings, the Indian team gained advantage over the Aussies.

The number of sessions won by both the teams was equal (6-6) after the fourth day. India, through the ball and then with the help of the first 3 batsmen, grabbed the first session in a dominating fashion. The next session was consolidation of the innings by the seasoned batsmen followed by a quick-fire 3rd session - commanding performance on the last day to seal the match and the series.  3 fifty partnerships coming one after the other eased the team past the target set by the Australians.

Cheteshwara Pujara did very well and received praise from everyone. His aggressive shots against the spinners and assured technique against the faster bowlers gave a lot of comfort to Indian fans who would have been worried about the future after SRT, Dravid, Laxman retire. Of course it is early days and there will be more harder tests in foreign soils but the promise is good to see. Murali Vijay gave him good support - another talent that requires harder tests to confirm his potential - while scoring runs at a brisk pace.

Sachin Tendulkar had another fifty (this time a second innings one) to add to his double-century. He is maturing even better than old wine - the records speak for itself but the ease with which he is scoring the huge runs is a pleasing sight to watch. The selectors are doing a good job by resting him for the ODIs - one would like him to be back in ODIs by the year-end.

Rahul Dravid had the right occasion to say goodbye to test cricket by guiding the team to victory at his home ground en route to a series win against the dominant Aussies. He has not announced any decision but looking at his struggle, one only wishes (like Sourav Ganguly) he goes earlier than the selectors decision.

MS Dhoni and Gary Kirsten should be credited with the strategy of sending Pujara ahead of Dravid or Tendulkar. All would have thought that Dravid was demoted but the strategy was more to have Pujara face the harder ball and give the much-needed cushion to the inexperienced middle-order. How it clicked was for all to see - these are the tricks that makes MSD the good captain he is. His test record is evidence for all to see - it now does not matter if he wins tosses or not. 

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Bench strength - did anyone say?

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The No.2 team in ODI cricket was supposed to be so strong that everyone considered them the team in form and expected them to have a strong bench as well. Earlier, everyone (including me) used to think that the average Ranji team (Mumbai or Tamil Nadu) would easily beat a Zimbabwe team in ODI. No longer.

All myths have been broken, thanks to a spirited effort from the Zimbabwe team, determined to prove their mark.

The first match of the Tri-series saw a team that was woeful in running between the wickets, nervous in their stroke-play, tentative in bowling and average overall. Whether the young guns were interested to make their mark is a question. The Indian cap was given to them a bit sooner and hence, one feels that they did not want it so much as the others. Suresh Raina did not have the Power Presence of a MSD and his limited bowling options did not offer him any respite.

Among the bowlers, only Vinay Kumar showed some glimpses of his talent, thanks to his slower ball (that got Coventry). The others are not in the same league as the other also-rans (Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh). Of course, it is not to say that they should not be given a chance - but, quite evidently the debutants did not grab the chances. Rohit Sharma and to an extent, Ravinder Jadeja did well in the batting department while Amit Mishra shone in the bowling.

The Indian team would do well to settle their nerves (if any) for the next match since they are against the much more powerful Lankans in the next match. Of course, there will be no complacency (for they are the underdogs now). There needs to be more determination in the batting and desperation on the field. Bowling will remain the weak link, that can be worked around by electing to chase.

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India look forward to the Eden for revenge

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Eden Gardens - the first memory of this ground was the 1987 World Cup Final that was held at this very ground - a brand new stadium was released to the public who occupied every inch of it during the final even when the match did not feature the host country.

The next memory of course, is the 281 of VVS Laxman - no Indian would probably forget this match for the determination, guts of the Indian fightback. VVS has made this ground his second home - his stats at this ground better than any other in India. Harbhajan will also like coming to the ground where he made magic against the visiting Aussies during the same 281-series.

Thanks to the politics that is common-place within BCCI, the test matches have been a very rare occurrence at this ground. One-day matches have returned and one is happy to see that a test match is played after 3 years. The last match was played recently between India and who else, Sri Lanka - Gambhir and Kohli scoring centuries each as India chased down a 310+ score successfully.

So, what can one expect to see in the 2nd (and strangely, the final test) match of the series? Ex-coach John Wright suggests that VVS be pushed to the No.3 slot - a good move which will have the best batsmen of the team occupying the first four spots in the lineup. With MS Dhoni coming in at No.7, the 2 relatively younger players (most probably Vijay and Badrinath) will occupy 5 and 6. So far, so good but what India will hope is for the players to fire all guns blazing. Win the toss, bat first and chalk up a big score in the first innings to put pressure on the Proteans.

Then, the bowlers need to come to the party. Zaheer and Sreesanth will have to swing the ball in conditions that might help them (the wind in the afternoon thanks to the Hooghly river might make things interesting for both sides). But, it is Harbhajan who has to come to the party in this test. He has to make a difference to the team with incisive spin - Pragyan Ojha seems set to make another replacement of Amit Mishra.

Last year matches at this ground saw huge scores being put up in the Ranji matches with no result at the end - Bengal playing against Saurashtra and Baroda. Will this test go that way as well? Do not think so. Spin will come to play during the 3rd and 4th day of the match - hopefully, India will take the steps required (as suggests their No.1 spot) to win the match and draw the series. Then, only can they claim to be rightfully No.1 team.

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Nagpur Post-mortem

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An interesting link on the day when India lost the first test at Nagpur against South Africa, while browsing hit my attention - especially this block of text

Winners become sinners when confidence turns into complacency and arrogance. They over-estimate their own invincibility and under-value mundane disciplines. Whenever someone feels on top over a long period of time, they are tempted to neglect the very fundamentals that helped them succeed in the first place. They might even start to feel that the rules don't apply to them.

The article was about Toyota's current issues but I felt that the Indian team would do well to read this article as well as introspect. If anyone thought that the Indians could face the No.2 ranked side in the world (having the No.1 ranked bowler), they needed to check their head first. The Indian think-tank also probably under-estimated the strength of the South African team (did they not remember the fact that India was all out for 76 in the last series in 2008) - If they did not forget, why did they not prepare for Steyn? One cannot plan against such a bowler - agreed. But, did they think they could get away with the practice they had prior to the test series?

Not to say that this was the only reason for the loss against South Africa. There were plenty of others as well.

• Luck - VVS being added to the team was not luck - it was bad planning. How come a player who was 50-60% fit on the eve of the match added to the fifteen?  Rohit Sharma getting injured on the morning of the match was purely bad luck. No one can dispute that!!! Saha must be thanking his stars that he was lucky to play one test match - something that many players in the yesteryears were not so fortunate.
• Injuries - The injury to Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman obviously played a big role in the test match. The middle-order had no or minimal experience. Badri played a good innings in the first innings but gave it away in the second. Vijay had played well in the opportunities he had received so far - this was his first failure. This lad deserves another one or two chances.
• Bowling - Because of the attention Steyn received, the Indian bowlers might not face the heat but the truth was that the bowling was downright bad. Harbhajan and Amit Mishra bowled well in patches but not well together to take wickets. Ishant could not get any wickets at all - surely Sreesanth must be back in the next test match.

Will the Indians prepare a track for the South Africans like last time? Will we see the pitch of Eden Gardens take turn from the first session? Time will tell if the Indians draw the series to retain No.1 or go down to No.2.

So far, the selectors have changed their team by calling up Raina, Sreesanth and Dinesh Karthik - the best option to shore up the batting would be to hope VVS is fit again.

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India select their team - what could have been

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Indian selectors announced their squad today for the first test against South Africa at Nagpur. The injuries to Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Sreesanth made the selectors choose other outsiders to the fifteen.

The team looks balanced with 4 pacers (Zaheer, Ishant, Tyagi, Mithun), 3 spinners (Harbhajan, Ojha, Amit Mishra), 2 keepers (Dhoni, Saha), 2 reserve batsmen (Vijay, Badrinath) and the other legends (Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Laxman).

A good selection in the given situation but what could have been better was to try out a pace-bowling allrounder. A Irfan Pathan, given his exploits in the domestic season, could have provided a better value to the team rather than a Badrinath or a Vijay alone. This position will become critical once India start travelling overseas. The players who can contribute with the ball, bowl slow and hence there is a need to have 3 pacers always. If only an Irfan Pathan can be added to the squad, he could give the team better balance like what Kallis or Flintoff for their sides. Of course, I am not trying to compare the players here but that is what can be possible. The option could have been tried out in the Bangladesh series but now the situation warrants a change and why not try this one.

Now, it looks like Laxman will come in place of Yuvraj and Dravid's place will be taken by Badrinath - reward for some good performances on the domestic circuit for a long period. If he performs, India would have found a good batsman. If not, it is time to move on to Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey.

Vinay Kumar must have felt bad that he was not given a chance in the test team earlier than Mithun. If a pacer has to be given a chance (which the Nagpur pitch seems to suggest), Tyagi might be the first option for the think-tank as he has been in the 15 for some time now.

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Will it be another 2-0 for India?

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India start the second test against Bangladesh in the right form to go for a 2-0 win in the series. There will be however 2 replacements in the team - Sreesanth and VVS Laxman ruled out of the match today.

The Indians will be looking to improve their performance in the first innings, as compared to the same in the first test. Gautam Gambhir will be looking to join Bradman at the top with 6 consecutive hundreds in as many test matches. Sehwag will be keen to improve his average against Bangladesh from his current 32 to somewhere close to his career average of 52 (to do this, he needs to score 140 in the next innings). New Zealand and England are the 2 other countries against whom he has got an average less than 50.

Whoever comes in place of VVS will have a chance to impress the selectors and retain his place in the squad for the next series. Yuvraj also gets another chance to prove his worth at the test level. The bowlers did a decent job in the first test for most of the time (except for the phase where tailenders enjoyed themselves). There will be 2 changes to the team with Sreesanth going out and Harbhajan coming back to the squad. I would suggest that Amit Mishra given another chance alongside Bhajji,

Bangladesh will expect someone to support their captain Sakib in the batting while they will try to prove Sehwag wrong in showing their ability to take 20 wickets in a test match.

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