Warm up to the Champions trophy

ODIs are dying, T20s are emerging to be best entertainers and the tv channels with broadcasting rights for the tournaments are partly responsible for that..

We all remember that the warm up games leading into the T20 world cup was telecast and an Indo-Pak match was organized just to pull the crowds to the stadium and it was well received..

Here we are, at the mini World cup a 50 over tournament of 8 test playing nations, 15matches and is regarded as a tool to gauge the relevance of the 50 over format and the warm up matches are not being aired.. Not even a live scorecard or news ticker on star cricket, who hold the rights to broadcast ICC events.. And wats making the headlines- 'save ODI'..

New Zealand vs Warriors-  NZ never got going, except for a partnership of 95 between Taylor and Guptill. From being at 210 for 3, they were bowled out for 237.. The Warriors chase also suffered from the lack of substantial partnerships but all their batsmen chipped in with useful contributions. Warriors eventually won in the penultimate over by 2 wickets..

South Africa vs West Indies - Long time since such a one sided affair was seen.. If in the previous game, many got into double figures, in this game, SA top order batsmen all got into 80s..Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy all reached the 80s.. Duminy was the stand-out batsman with 80 off 49 deliveries and Mark Boucher also gave a reminder of his big-hitting skills by smashing 55 off 27 balls; Posted a mammoth 388 that showed how weak Windies are who later were bowled out for 200..

Pakistan vs Srilanka- As if 2 back to back series weren't enough, these 2 teams locked horns once again.. Pakistan were outplayed in the Lankan islands earlier losing both tests and ODIs had a point to prove and they came with a bang, scored 306 after a jittery start, Akmal, Misbah and Umar Akmal scored 50s, and Naved-ul-Hassan picked up 5wickets to bundle the Lankans out for 198..

ALL ON SEPT 18.

Srilanka vs West Indies- Dale Richards and Devon Smith notched up 50s but the M&M of Lanka spun a web around Windies and all they could manage was a paltry 201.. Sri-lanka were steered to victory by a good knock from Jyawardene..

Pakistan vs Warriors- Pakistan, Sri lanka and West Indies had 2 practice matches a piece.. Pakistan came up with another convincing performance.. An unbeaten 130 from Shoaib Malik guided Pakistan to a six-wicket victory against Warriors.. Chasing 262 for victory, Pakis got there with 19 balls to spare.


India vs New Zealand- Neil Broom, Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill scored 50s and NZ scored 301.. Pacers were torn apart and it was the spinners who put on the brakes. 3 wickets to Yusuf Pathan somewhat restricted NZ to just 301.. India had rested Sachin and Harbhajan, so it was upto the make shift opening pair of Karthik and Dravid to start the innings, Dravid was on fire scoring a quick fire 37 of 34 balls but soon the openers were back in the hut.. MSD was (un)characteristically slow, Yuvraj tried to smash the bowling apart but all in vain.. bhishek Nayar provided some fight, scoring a quick 41, which included six fours. New Zealand shared the wickets around with Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond taking two apiece, as India were bowled out in the 41st over..

8 teams, 15 matches, 1 cup.. Let the games begin.. For schedule,see previous post ..

Compaq cup - Sri Lanka

The Compaq Cup in Sri Lanka will feature New Zealand along with India in a tri-nation tournament starting tomorrow. India will start the Sri Lanka one-day tri-series with back-to-back matches on September 11 and 12, according to the revised tournament schedule. It was previously reported that India will play its first match against New Zealand on September 10.

Date and Time	Match
Tue Sep 8           14:30  IST	1st Match - Sri Lanka v New Zealand R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Fri Sep 11           14:30 IST	2nd Match - India v New Zealand R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Sat Sep 12           14:30  IST	3rd Match - Sri Lanka v India R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Mon Sep 14           14:30 IST	Final - TBC v TBC R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

India squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Suresh Raina, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, R.P.Singh, Ishant Sharma, Amith Mishra, Dinesh Karthik

New Zealand Squad: Daniel Vettori (Captain), Neil Broom, Brendon Diamanti, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Nathan McCullum, Jacob Oram, Grant Elliot, Ian Butler, Kyle Mills, Shane Bond, Gareth Hopkins, Jeetan Patel.

 
Sri Lanka Squad: Kumar Sangakkara (Captain & WK), Sanath Jayasuriya, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedara, Angelo Mathews, Mahela Udawatte, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis, M.Muralitharan, Isuru Udana, Gihan Rupasinghe, Lasith Malinga, Thilan Tushara, Kaushal Lokuarachchi.

A match was abandoned due to rain last year around the same time against India without a ball being bowled.. Thundershowers are predicted during the match days.. Hope the matches are a full 50 over game..  As always toss is a crucial issue in any D/N games in the sub-continent and more so in Lanka as toss more or less decides the fate of the game.. 

Champions Trophy 2000 - part 2

Click here for PART 1

 

PRE QFs - 

• India vs Kenya, 
• England vs Bangladesh, 
• West Indies vs Sri Lanka...

India won the toss and chose to bowl first. Batting first, Kenya were restricted to 208 for nine in 50 overs. The total was never going to be one to pose any problems for the Indians and thanks to skipper Sourav Ganguly's 66 and Rahul Dravid's unbeaten 68, they romped home with eight wickets and 7.3 overs to spare.. Kumble received MoM for 2-22 in 10 overs..

Similarly, England faced little opposition from Bangladesh emerging winners by eight wickets with 6.1 overs to spare. Bangladesh did well in getting 232 for eight in 50 overs but against ordinary bowling, Alec Stewart (87 not out) and skipper Nasser Hussain (95) had little difficulty in negotiating some ordinary bowling during their second wicket partnership of 175 runs. 

A stroke-filled 132 by opener Avishka Gunawardene and his third wicket stand of 160 runs with Mahela Jayawardene (72) saw Sri Lanka post 287 for six in 50 overs, a total that proved to be too formidable for the West Indies who were dismissed for 179 in 46.4 overs.

This meant that the Quarter Finals line up stood like-

• India vs Australia

• Pakistan vs Sri Lanka

• New Zealand vs Zimbabwe

• England vs South Africa

The quarterfinals were marked by three one-sided results but the pulsating Australia-India game made up for this. Australia were firm favorites but this was a rejuvenated Indian side, under the captaincy of Ganguly and including three potentially fine players in newcomers Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Vijay Dahiya. After Australia made the early inroads, a breath-taking innings from Yuvraj saw India wrest the initiative and the advantage thereafter stayed with India.

The left-hander hit 84 off 80 balls treating the pace of McGrath, Lee and Gillespie with utter disdain. India ultimately posted a challenging total of 265 for nine in 50 overs. Then it was the turn of another youngster to strike. Bowling with hostility, Zaheer Khan removed Adam Gilchrist and Steve Waugh and some fine work by the varied attack, backed up by some superb work in the field in which Yuvraj was outstanding saw Australia bowled out for 245 in the 47th over. 

SriLanka's batting was dismal, Wasim Akram and Azhar Mahmood took 3wickets each to topple Lanka who were bowled out for 194.. Pakistan reached the target in 43.5 overs on the back of a century from Saeed Anwar.. 

After the initial loss of 4 wickets for 120, 85 from Twose and 52 from Craig McMillan enabled NZ to reach 265.. ZIM did not have the experience to post a win after being in a similar situation, 108-4, to post a win.. 4 wickets from Paul Wiseman sealed a win for NZ.. ZIM all out for 201..

Similarly, England were no match for South Africa's professional allround skills. Graeme Hick top-scored with a 65 but England's total of 182 in 44.1 overs was always going to be inadequate. South Africa with Jacques Kallis (78 not out) and Boeta Dippenaar (65) figuring in an unbroken third wicket partnership of 132 runs romped home with 11.5 overs to spare.

SEMI-FINALS
India vs South Africa
Pakistan vs New Zealand

Anwar hit a second successive hundred (104), after a mini collapse Akram and Razzaq helped Pakistan score 252 in 49.2 overs against New Zealand. Azhar Mahmood, then, reduced the Kiwis to 15 for two but Nathan Astle (49) and Roger Twose (87) initiated a recovery process by adding 135 runs for the third wicket. Pakistan came back strongly and had a distinct edge when New Zealand were 187 for six. However, Craig McMillan (51) and Scott Styris (26) figured in an unbroken seventh wicket stand of 66 runs to steer New Zealand home amidst much excitement with one over to spare. Shane O' Connor's 5 wicket haul earned him the MoM..

The 2nd SF which many thought would go South Africa's way had some surprises.. Ganguly posted a run a ball 141 which had 11 fours and 6 sixes against an attack that comprised of Pollock, Donald, Kallis, Telemachus, Klusener.. Though Donald and Pollock were economical, Kallis and Telemachus were torn apart and as Ganguly was at the crease, SA captain was even reluctant to bowl his spinner Boje who duly got hit for 26 in 2 overs.. Result a mamoth total of 295.. SA innings suffered an early jolt as Zak removed Hall ( the famous in swinging yorker, swinging into the legs and uprooted the stumps), and then went reeling to 50-4.. India took wickets consistently and that put an end to SA's journey in the tournament..

FINALS
India locked horns with NZ for the title clash..

Cairns, returning bravely from a knee injury, won the match with an inspirational century that resuscitated a failing run-chase and carried New Zealand to one of their proudest moments. They certainly had to win this one the hard way, after Ganguly and Tendulkar had opened with 141 in just 26.3 overs. However, Tendulkar was stranded by a bad call and, while Ganguly carried on to his second successive hundred, 135 from the final 25 overs represented diminishing returns. 264 for six in 50 overs.  Trusting in their deep batting order, New Zealand were aggressive from the start. 37 for two and later132 for five - New Zealand were gasping for breath.. It was now that Harris joined Cairns for a cool-headed partnership of 122. Though the required run-rate continued to climb, Cairns refused to be fazed. He hit two sixes, one a glorious straight drive off Kumble into the red clay of the car park in the 47th over, and ultimately the winning run with just two balls remaining.

 

  

 

Record (ed) 194 - Charles Coventry

Coventry, with his unbeaten 194 off 156 balls against Bangladesh at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo on Sunday, has posted the joint highest individual score in the history of ODIs.  Coventry's outstanding knock is his career-best score - his maiden ODI hundred, bettering the 74 off 99 balls against India at Harare..
Unfortunately, Coventry finished on the losing side, thus creating an unwanted world record in ODIs, surpassing Matthew Hayden's unbeaten 181 against New Zealand at Hamilton on February 20, 2007.

Coventry's outstanding innings has contained 106 runs from boundaries (seven sixes and 17 fours) - which is also a record for most runs through boundaries for Zimbabwe in ODIs. It is also a record for most runs through boundaries against Bangladesh in an ODI innings.

Craig Wishart's unbeaten 172 off 151 balls against Namibia at Harare on February 10, 2003 was the previous highest individual score for Zimbabwe in ODIs.

The highest individual innings for losing cause in ODIs are:

Runs	Balls	Batsman	For	Vs.	Venue	Date
194*	156	Charles Coventry	Zim	Ban	Bulawayo	16.8.2009
181*	166	Matthew Hayden	Aus	NZ	Hamilton	20.2.2007
167*	163	Robin Smith	Eng	Aus	Birmingham	21.5.1993
164	105	Ricky Ponting	Aus	SA	Johannesburg	12.3.2006
152*	153	Chris Gayle	WI	SA	Johannesburg	4.2.2004

The elusive double hundred.. 

The players seem to miss the elusive 200, either because of bad luck, a poor shot or over enthusiasm and eagerness to get to that double hundred mark..

Several batsmen have neared the mark but fallen agonizingly short: Saeed Anwar ( prev post on Independence Day special records Anwar's 194)  probably had the best chance but was undone by the brutal May heat of Chennai, Sanath Jayasuriya's one-man demolition job in Sharjah ended 11 runs adrift, (both against India) and Herschelle Gibbs had raced to 175 as early as the 32nd over before holing out to long-on in the famous 438 game at the Wanderers.. In an unglamorous series in Bulawayo, Charles Coventry, joined that illustrious list.

Saeed  Anwar


Saeed Anwar had a runner from the 19th over itself as the heat at Chennai took toll on the players.. Saeed Anwar broke the record for the highest individual innings in a one-day international by scoring 194, from 146 balls, with 22 fours and five sixes, three in succession in one over from Kumble, which went for 2-2-6-6-6-4. He might have reached a double-hundred had he not top-edged a sweep to be caught at fine leg off Sachin in the 47th over. It was a remarkable exhibition of controlled aggression, even if he was helped by a runner, Shahid Afridi, for most of the innings (he was suffering from heat exhaustion and loss of fluid).

The mighty SIR Viv Richards

What is hitting in the air ? Century in an ODI !! I wouldn't say these were unheard of at 1984.. There were enough centuries and enough big ones by then.. Kapil Dev's untaped 175 against Zimbabwe could be cited as an example.. But the might of Viv is stamped on this innings, the greatest player of all time..

Almost single-handed he won the match for West Indies after they had been in deep trouble. Having won the toss and chosen to bat, they were 102 for seven in the 26th over of a 55-over match at Old Trafford on the last day of May in the 1st match of the Texaco trophy.. In a memorable display Richards received 170 balls and hit 21 fours and five sixes, one of these, a straight drive, going out of the ground at the Warwick Road end. In 14 overs for the last wicket Richards and Holding added 106, Richards's share being 93. He batted with daring and immense power..



The Matara Mauler


Sri Lanka defeated India by 254 in one of their most intimidating performances in the history of Sri Lankan cricket, in the finals of Coca Cola trophy at Sharjah 2000. The architect was, Sanath Jayasuriya, who rescued an innings that was dipping into the doldrums, with a breathtaking 189 from just 161 balls, the second equal highest score in the history of one-day international cricket.



At the start of the 49th over during the Sri Lankan innings, both the captains reached a stage where they couldn't care less, but for different reasons. While Jayasuriya was intent on throwing his bat at anything and everything without bothering about the results, Ganguly decided to bring himself on to bowl, as he must have thought that it could not get worse. Jayasuriya despatched the first ball for a four but got out the very next delivery. It was the only triumph for Ganguly on a day which otherwise was something short of a torture.


Gary Kirsten - 188* vs UAE at Rawalpindi in the world cup 1996.. G Kirsten 188* off 159 balls, 4 sixes, 13 fours. Highest ever individual score in World Cup matches, surpassing IVA Richards' 181* v SL at Karachi in 1987. 2nd highest ODI score of all time, needing 3 off last ball to equal Viv Richards' all time ODI record score of 189.

NOW, Charles Coventry.. 



How did he lose out ?

• Coventry was on 191, three short of equalling the record, when the final over started.
  49.1 Syed Rasel to Coventry, 1 run, full outside off, driven straight to deep cover, just the single
  Mupariwa needs to get a single now
  49.2 Syed Rasel to Mupariwa, OUT lbw Coventry will have to wait
  Utseya, the captain, walks in
  49.3 Syed Rasel to Utseya, FOUR, a boundary! They were on their way to get a single, picks the slower one wide of long-on, the fielder overruns it to concede a boundary, Coventry will have to wait again
  49.4 Syed Rasel to Utseya, 2 runs, short on leg stump, pulled away wide of fine leg.. why two? His partner's on the verge of a major landmark here, a single should have been fine
  49.5 Syed Rasel to Utseya, 1 run.
  Coventry has one ball to break the record. Three to get.
  The keeper comes up
  49.6 Syed Rasel to Coventry, 2 runs, full toss outside off, slaps it back past the bowler wide of long-off for a couple to equal the world record!!
   

Wall returns, India pick squad

India picked their squad for the Compaq tri series in Sri Lanka featuring NewZealand as the 3rd side and also the Champions Trophy to be held in the month of September..


Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the chairman of selectors and his colleagues of the selection committee met on Sunday in Chennai and announced the same ODI squad for both the upcoming series.

Dravid's return was more or less certain for both the tournaments since the selectors believed that such a move would bolster the Indian middle order which looked vulnerable to short-pitch stuff during the Twenty20 World Cup in England.

Dravid played the last of his 333 ODIs back in October 2007 against Australia in Nagpur and the former India captain has amassed 10,585 runs at an average of 39.49.

Indian opener Virender Sehwag, who is yet to complete his rehabilitation after undergoing a shoulder surgery has expectedly failed to find a place in the squad.

As expected, Tendulkar who made himself unavailable for the four-match ODI series in the West Indies in June-July, is back to the squad along with  Suresh Raina ,who missed the Windies tour due to an injury, that has costed Rohit Sharma his place in the side...

Yusuf Pathan, who has been chipping in with the bat besides rolling his arms to good effect, has retained his place but Ravindra Jadeja has paved the way for Abhishek Nayar who did not get a fair chance in the West Indies..

Other notable omission is Badrinath, fair enough, with Dravid, Yuvi, MSD, Raina in the middle order Badri wouldn't have got a game..

Pragyan Ojha has been left out which is the biggest surprise, he has been the most potent spinner with Bhajji nowadays looking to control the run flow than to take wickets Ojha with his spin, flight and guile could have been a good pick on the turning wickets of Lanka and also in SA..

Amit Mishra who has been bowling with pink, green and orange balls in the emerging players' tournament was the leading wicket taker and most probably that has prompted the selectors to give him a chance in the national ODI side as well..

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Abhishek Nayar, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Yusuf Pathan, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Dinesh Karthik.

Karnataka T20 League - KPL

The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) had launched a Twenty20 tournament as part of its plans to expand the game in rural districts. The ten-side zonal league, known as the Karnakata Premier League (KPL), will be held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore between September 12 and 27.

It will feature eight teams backed by the KSCA and Frontiers Group India, with the state association to host an auction on August 8. The eight so-called franchises will pick from a minimum of five from a pool of 40 domestic players in Karnataka. The 40 cricketers will be divided among ten zonal teams: Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Dharwad, Raichur, Tumkur, Shimoga, Bellary, Gulbarga and Belgaum. The KSCA has fixed the minimum bid at Rs 20 lakhs. 

Bangalore will have 2 teams-Urban and Rural , Mysore, Belgaum, Shimoga, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad and Gulbarga were the other zones that were grabbed up, with Bellary, the mining capital of the state, and Raichur missing out from the list announced by KSCA president Srikantadatta Wadiyar.The bidding for the eight franchises of the inaugural Karnataka Premier League (KPL) has fetched a total of Rs 35 crore ($7.36 million approx).. 

• Brigade Enterprises, part of the Brigade Group, making the highest bid of Rs 7.20 crore ($1.51 million approx) for the ownership rights of the Bangalore Urban team. 
• Melmont Constructions Pvt Ltd, part of the Puravankara Group, netted the Bangalore Rural team with a winning bid of Rs 5.55 crore.  
• The Mangalore team went to Fiza Developers owned by politician Moideen Bava for Rs 4.23 crores 
• The Mysore team was bought by Kupendra Reddy Series Auto Company for Rs 3.25 crores 
• The Hubli-Dharwad team went to Shamanoor Shiva Shankarappa and Jagannnath for Rs 3.77 crores.
• The Gulbarga team was secured by Vivid Creations for 3.56 crores 
• Belgaum team by Subash Publishers and Sangeeth Electronics Company for Rs 3.81 crores. 
• The Shimoga team went to Jayaprakash Hedge for Rs 1.75 crores

With cricket in Karnataka being badly hit by a variety of reasons in the recent past, including the dearth of quality players and the inability to spot and nurture the few talented ones, moving forward is imperative as far as the Karnataka State Cricket Association is concerned. Without doubt, Karnataka selectors will be able to see some raw and promising talent in the KPL.  

Having witnessed the nail biting matches in the IPL the cricketers will know what is expected of them in these matches.  One is not sure if the crowds will flock to the stadium but if the matches show promise the efforts of the KSCA will bear fruit.

Former India and Karnataka players Kumble and Srinath have expressed concern over the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA)'s move to start a Karnataka Premier League (KPL) with private franchise ownership of eight teams  and feel it is not a positive development..

Kumble had said that KSCA could organize the event with annual grants from the BCCI and the franchise move is not good as it would allow back door entry into KSCA to people who are not passionate about cricket..

Srinath also voiced his concerns over introducing T20 format to youngsters while they should be trained to play the longer format and then T20 be introduced, making them T20 professionals is not the way forward.. 

The Indian board has now rejected a request from its Karnataka state association to allow players from outside that state to participate in the proposed Twenty20 Karnataka Premier League (KPL). It's understood that the BCCI's decision to restrict KPL to an intra-state event - potentially a big spoke in the league's wheel - is to prevent the possibility of such tournaments becoming potential rivals to its cash-rich IPL.

Whatever be the reason, if other state players are not allowed to play in KPL then each team has to play fringe players to pull out a playing XI.. The quality of cricket may not be that great.. If the quality is not great people will not come to watch cricket or watch on tv.. This would have adverse effects on sponsors and the league itself.. So the primary motive should be to ensure that the cricket is upto the mark and fair.. 

India's next stop

New Zealand's five-match bilateral ODI series in Sri Lanka has been replaced by a tri-series also featuring India that will run from September 8-14. The four-game tournament, the dates for which were announced today, had been firmed up last month during the ICC meeting at Lord's.

All matches will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

The rest of New Zealand's tour schedule has also been tweaked. While the two Tests run as planned, the tourists play an additional three-day tour game before the first Test in Galle. The two Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka will now be played on September 2 and 4, after the Test series.

After the conclusion of the tri-series, all three teams will head to South Africa for the Champions Trophy.

This is New Zealand's first visit to Sri Lanka after a gap of six years. In 2003, they drew the two-Test series 0-0 and won the tri-series, also involving Pakistan.

 

New Zealand tour itinerary

Aug 7-9: Three-day match, Colombo
Aug 12-14: Three-day match, Colombo
Aug 18-22: 1st Test, Galle
Aug 26-30: 2nd Test, Colombo (SSC)
Sept 2: 1st Twenty20 international, Colombo
Sept 4: 2nd Twenty20 international, Colombo

Tri-series at Premadasa stadium, Colombo

Sept 8 Sri Lanka v New Zealand
Sept 10 India v Sri Lanka
Sept 12 India v New Zealand
Sept 14: Final 

Tough to keep dada out

News doing rounds that Dada is in race to become the president of BCCI by 2014. If it happens then he will be heading the same board that criticized him, ridiculed him and harassed him.. He could then become the most powerful man in the cricketing world.. Maharaj of cricket !!

Ganguly looks to be on the administrative side of cricket soon and has said that he wouldn't be averse to taking over such a role..

Cricket in India reached new peaks when the Prince of Kolkata took over the reins of captaincy from Sachin Tendulkar in 2000.

The game had hit staggering lows in the country. The match-fixing scandal had pierced a deep hole in every heart and the team looked incapable of winning and surviving with dignity. And that was when it all changed.
Ganguly led India to an ODI series win against the visiting South Africans soon after taking over. He taught the team to win and play with a certain dignity and self-assurance.

However, the honey-moon period came to a stand-still and his fortunes plummeted to an all time-low when a certain Greg Chappell came in as coach and decided he had had enough of Ganguly. Banished from captaincy and the team, the nation watched Dada made a stunning come back after a year to claim his place in the team.. Mother of all comebacks..

His last Test series against Australia was significant for more reasons than one. That turned out to be his most successful outing against the World Champions, churning out fifties, a hundred and a duck in the last innings.

The most successful Indian captain, the royal Bengal tiger is ready to roar again..

The charismatic cricketer has revealed his plans to contest CAB elections in the near future, which could ultimately set him on his way to the BCCI president's post.. Since, it is East Zone's turn to put up a candidate for the top BCCI  post in 2014, Ganguly's crowning at the helm of affairs looks all the more realistic.

Ganguly said, "I am convinced that I can play a positive role. Having played the game at the highest level and being part of the system, I know what it takes to make a difference.At some point, I will find a way to get into the CAB where people have known me since I was a kid. I have respect for them and I am sure they will appreciate my concern for Bengal cricket and the difference I can make. I am in no hurry.."

Looks like the show is about to start, all over again.

Future of Cricket

Not a prediction, but just observations..

ICC have chalked up plans for 4 day test matches, day-night test matches, two tier test matches to "SAVE" the longest oldest and best form of cricket..

Players like Symonds will now be a part of Deccan Chargers alone and not be playing for his country while the likes of Gayle have made it clear that he likes T20 more than the boring Test matches, the poor crowd turn out for test matches also are having a say in the future of cricket..

Where are we heading?

Test cricket is suffering because the Windies,Bangladesh,New Zealand,Zimbabwe and Pakistan are either at their lowest ebb or weakened teams. The problem lies in politics(Pak,Zim),inexperience(Bangladesh)and more lucrative sport choices(Windies).. It would not be debated if I were to say that IND-PAK test matches have lost their fervor.. Two-tier system may be the answer to this.. But it would be such a sorry state to see Windies relegated to 2nd tier., now that puts the 2nd question in our minds.- What will be the motivation for these players then ? Will there be any crowd pulling after all India, Australia, South Africa are not going to play test cricket with them? Will the teams in tier-1 be willing to tour tier-2 nations for just 5ODIs and an odd T20Is ? Will this then reduce the standard of game that Windies play and if at all they come to the tier-1 will they be found wanting ? These are some serious questions to be answered..

4 day test matches may see more tame draws one feels.. But there is a challenge for the captains here, the lost art of captaincy may be brought back to the fore un-intentionally I must add.. Its the team with a pro-active captain that is going to win matches off 4 days.. The captain's role is going to be all the more important in deciding when the team must declare their innings, when to attack and when to defend.. In all probablity, we would be witnessing the likes of the Ranatungas, the Mark Taylors, Stephen Flemings, Steve Waughs, MSD, Ganguly, Nasser Hussains, Hansie Cronje.. These were the captains who had brought a world of change for their teams with their then innovative thinkings and bowling changes.. I guess we will all go back to this era which only augers well for the game..

The T20s and the IPL have shown that the teams are now more likely to be bowled out inside 20 overs than they are inside 50 says something profoundly rotten about the state of techniques, temperaments and concentration spans, something that augurs horribly ill for the future of Test cricket.. Well, the undiminished productivity of Gilchrist, Kumble and Matthew Hayden has shown that there is life - and a vibrant life  - after international retirement. As Richie Richardson recently remarked, what on earth was Dwayne Bravo doing playing in the IPL when he should have been helping West Indies avoid humiliation in England? Tony Cozier had said that Bravo was playing for the wrong "Indians" ... How long before board contracts are torn up in admission of an unwinnable battle? How long before the notion of the freelance cricketer takes hold?

The advantage T20 has is that since the duration is so short, it brings teams of lesser quality closer to the genuinely talented teams.. ODI needs reforms.. I would suggest playing with 12-13 players, 11 at any given time.. Its not the silly substitution that was followed where the captain gives in writing as to who would be substituted for whom.. This can be dynamic, say Harbhajan has bowled poorly for 5 overs call in Ojha to bowl for some overs.. You can always call Harbhajan back at any time.. Its not a one-time substitute.. A runs for a front foot no ball, 2 runs for the subsequent no-ball in the same over.. Have a eight run hit.. Do away with leg-byes.. Let the powerplays be more dynamic that it needn't be a block of 5 overs but can be split into 2+3 and to be chosen as and when desired.. Negative runs for getting out, a -2 ! -5 to the team if a player gets out on a duck; and all these negatives to hold good only till the target is achieved.. Not that you achieve the target and still are unsure of winning or losing as you could lose a wicket and get ducked by 2 runs..

Need for innovation in ODI.. Tests shall stay as long as the teams are competitive and the pitches are responsive.. Sporting pitches as they call is the need of the hour.. An English wicket should seam around, an Australian one bounce, and an Indian one to turn square.. That would really be the essence of "TEST"..

Ashes

The Ashes is a Test match series, played between England and Australia.. It is one of international cricket's most celebrated rivalries which dates back to 1882.. It is currently played biennially, alternately in England and Australia as a summer game in the 2 countries, Nov-Jan in Australia and Jun-Sep in England... 

 

The series is named after a satirical obituary published in an English newspaper, The Sporting Times, in 1882 after the match at The Oval in which Australia beat England on an English ground for the first time. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. The English media then dubbed the next English tour to Australia (1882-83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.

During that tour in Australia, a small terracotta urn was presented as a gift to the England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of possibly a bail...

The urn is erroneously believed, by some, to be the trophy of the Ashes series but it has never been formally adopted as such and Ivo Bligh always considered it to be a personal gift. Replicas of the urn are often held aloft by victorious teams as a symbol of their victory in an Ashes series, but the actual urn has never been presented or displayed as a trophy in this way. Whichever side holds the Ashes, the urn normally remains in the Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord's since being bequeathed to the MCC by Ivo Bligh's widow upon his death.

Since the 1998-99 Ashes series, a Waterford Crystal representation of the Ashes urn has been presented to the winners of an Ashes series as the official trophy of that series.

Australia currently holds The Ashes, after beating England 5-0 to regain them in 2006-07.

The Ashes is one of the most fiercely contested competitions in cricket.

The failure of England to regain the Ashes for 16 years from 1989, coupled with the global dominance of the Australian team, had dulled the lustre of the series in recent years throughout most of the cricketing world, although it has remained the most popular cricketing contest for Australians. 

However, things changed in the 2005 series and England won it with Reverse swing as their weapon.. England were upbeat about their win but in the subsequent tour down under, they lost miserably to Australia 5-0.. 

Things are quite different now.. It perhaps is the 1st Ashes after the era of Aussie domination in world cricket.. 

England have a poor captain this time in Strauss, will he motivate the team and bring about key changes in bowling and fielding is the big question here.. Strauss and Cook should give a good opening stand followed by Bopara and KP.. Bopara has to play really well and justify his position, KP will once again be the pivot of the batting.. Bowling is quite strong with Broad, Anderson and Flintoff who can swing the ball, the aussies dont play the swing pretty well.. Swann, Panesar and Rashid, the 3 spinners will come in handy.. There are speculations that England may go in with 2 spinners in their playing 11.. Not a bad idea as the Aussies dont play spin that well either.. But that is if the spinners are of some quality, don't expect Rashid to cause them any problem.. Yes, the Aussies are troubled by spinners but they were troubled by Mendis' unpredictability, Kumble, Harbhajan and of late Saeed Ajmal and Afridi in ODI cricket but that is no reason why they shouldn't play Rashid or Panesar with ease.. 

Australia will depend heavily on the openers and tail enders for runs.. Hughes is in spectacular form and Katich is always reliable.. Then comes the middle order which hasn't performed or dominated for ages now.. Ponting ever since he was troubled by Ishant is out of touch, Clarke has no performances to his credit, M.Hussey is already complaining of playing non-stop cricket and even contemplated quitting one form of the game.. Haddin is the player to look out for if he plays all matches that is.. Lee is not that threatening but the likes of Hilfenhaus, Clark and Siddle are not to be taken for granted.. Australia beat South Africa in SA with these Hilfenhaus and Siddle.. Mitchell Johnson is the man to look out for this entire series, this guy takes 5 wickets and then puts his pads on and scores vital runs for the side and then again is seen running up and taking wickets.. He can easily fit in as a player in the lower middle order too.. 

This series may be decided in who handles pressure better, whether Australia can play out the new ball, spin and a fully fit Flintoff ; England on the other hand need to play Mitchell well and get him out quickly.. The runs scored by the tail may come in handy too.. 

West Indies Tour

India begin their tour of West Indies amidst swine flu scare in Trinidad and Tobago islands.. Luckily no matches are being played there and even the carribean games are postponed..

This is the tour itenerary..

Timing	Teams	Venue
Fri 26 Jun 19:00	1st ODI – India v West Indies	Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica
Sun 28 Jun 19:00	2nd ODI – India v West Indies	Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica
Fri 3 Jul 19:00	3rd ODI – India v West Indies	Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Sun 5 Jul 19:00	4th ODI – India v West Indies	Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia

Darren Bravo, brother of allrounder Dwayne, has earned a maiden West Indies call-up for the first two one-day internationalsWith Fidel Edwards recovering from a lower back injury and unavailable for selection, the selectors called up allrounder David Bernard in his place..

West Indies: Chris Gayle (capt), Denesh Ramdin (wk), Lionel Baker, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Runako Morton, Ravi Rampaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor. 

Possible 11:

Chris Gayle (capt)

 Runako Morton

 Ramnaresh Sarwan

Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Dwayne Bravo

Darren Bravo

Denesh Ramdin (wk)

Jerome Taylor

Sulieman Benn

Ravi Rampaul

Lionel Baker

Or David Bernard may play too..

While Virender Sehwag (shoulder injury) and Suresh Raina (hairline fracture on the thumb) were rendered unavailable, Sachin Tendulkar opted to rest due to a finger injury picked up during the IPL and Zaheer Khan, recovering from his shoulder injury, was given some rest while Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan, who went to New Zealand as part of the 16-man ODI squad were dropped..  Ashish Nehra and RP Singh return on the back of good performances in the IPL .. Nayar has got a call and Murali Vijay comes as a back up opener.. He is the 3rd opener after Viru and Gauti..


Indian Squad for West Indies Tour: MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, M Vijay, S Badrinath, RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik (WK).

Gautam Gambhir                                                                                                                                      

M Vijay

MS Dhoni (Captain & WK)

Yuvraj Singh

Rohit Sharma

Abhishek Nayar/ Dinesh Karthik (WK)

Yusuf Pathan

Harbhajan Singh

Pragyan Ojha / Ashish Nehra

RP Singh

Ishant Sharma

 - 2 spinners or 3 seamers... Dinesh for wicket keeping.. 

Good tour on hands.. India cannot take WI lightly, though the Indians are much stronger in ODIs. It really depends on how lively the pitches are. Sabina park in Jamaica over the years has slowed up and lost its flavour.. The absence of Fidel Edwards may play a big role, Sarwan and Shiv finally get to move up the order, Bravo will play a key role if WI are to win.. For India, Rohit will be back to his usual position lower down the order and it would be foolish if the management doesn't play Vijay straight away.. Naya may or may not get a game in the 1st few matches depending on whether MSD opts for a keeper in Dinesh.

Get set to face some carribean music..

Latest cricket news

No Indians ICC World twenty20 XI

Former World twenty20 Champions India faced another decline in world cricket when ICC announced the best twenty20 XI with no player from India. The ICC on Monday named its eleven and not surprisingly, after losing three consecutive matches in the Super Eights, no Indian player made the cut.

In the best XI picked by ICC, four players from Pakistan, three from South Africa, two players from each West Indies and Sri Lanka is included in the squad. Younis Khan was named captain for the team announced by ICC.

However, there was one Indian face figuring in the Women's XI announced by ICC and it was that of bowler

ICC World XI: 

Chris Gayle (West Indies), 

Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), 

Jacques Kallis (South Africa), 

AB de Villiers (South Africa), 

Younis Khan (Pakistan, Captain), 

Dwayne Bravo (West Indies), 

Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), 

Kamran Akmal (Pakistan, Wicketkeeper), 

Wayne Parnell (South Africa), 

Umar Gul (Pakistan), 

Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka). 

12th man: Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)

Younis Khan quitting Twenty20 Cricket on a high

After leading his team to World cup glory, Pakistan Captain Younis Khan quits twenty20 cricket. Younis Khan used Cricket’s grand stage to announce his retirement from twenty20 Cricket. He said he is not getting younger anymore at 34 he wants to focus only on ODI and Test cricket. Younis dedicated Pakistan's World Twenty20 triumph to his former coach Bob Woolmer, who died during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

Now after his retirement from the shortest version of the game Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal is the front runner for leading Pakistan in twenty20 cricket.

Under his captaincy this is for the second time Pakistan able to win major ICC Events after 1992 50-over World Cup.

Md. Ashraful sacked from captaincy Job

Bangladesh Captain has been sacked from the captaincy job after poor show with bat in the recently concluded twenty20 World Cup. His team was also beaten by Ireland at Group stage that didn’t allow Bangladesh to make it to the Super Eights of ICC World Twenty20.

His deputy Mashrafe Mortaza, a fast bowler, is likely to take the Captaincy job.

Md. Yusuf and Abdul Razzaq back in Test Squad for Sri Lanka tour

Pakistanis selector on Monday announced the 15 member squad for the tour of Sri Lanka. Stylish right hand batsman Md.Yusuf and Abdul Razzaq recalled in the team. 

Yousuf, who has played 79 Tests, was delighted to be back. Pakistan cricket team will leave on Saturday to play three test match series followed by five ODI’s and a Twenty20 International.

Shahid Afridi was also not included in the test squad since he wanted some rest before going into ODI series.

Pakistan 15 Member Squad: Younis Khan (Captain), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (WK), Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamir, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rauf, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam.

No place for Vaughan and Harmision in England Training Ashes Squad

Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, and Steve Harmison have both been left out of England's pre-Ashes camp ahead of the much-anticipated series against Australia which begins later this month. However England selectors included three spinners Adil Rashid, Panesar and Swann in the squad.

M.Vaughan was expected to make return to international arena but now he may have to wait little longer after selector’s ignorance from Ashes squad.

England selector will pick the final squad on July 6 two days before the first test match.

England Test squad for pre-Ashes camp: Andrew Strauss (Captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Graham Onions, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Adil Rashid, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann.

Indian debacle- a better analysis

The most comprehensive analysis of India's strategies in the T20 WC matches.. Even the senior sports editors won’t give this analysis.. This is a captain's perspective and surely not a journo's or a mindless fan's..

India was touted as the team to look out for.. Having played the IPL and the batsmen like Raina, Rohit in form, Yusuf Pathan was in devastating form and his brother Irfan had found his swing and was batting brilliantly ( I had in my weekly updates of IPL named Pathan of the week), RP was the leading wicket taker of IPL2, Ojha and Bhajji had been the best slow bowlers along with Jakati and MURALI KARTIK..

There's another side to this Raina had become a slogger, Rohit had lost his timing and grace that he had shown in CB series final batting alongside Sachin and become a slogger who had to bat routinely at 5 or 6 for the chargers.. We cherished his big hitting ability, the boy who was collecting BMW stickers had become the man collecting BMWs.. CSK who were playing with Murali Vijay as opener had resorted to Parthiv in the latter stages primarily because MSD had complained of stress in lower back..

Take note: MSD complains of low back pain..

RP the main wicket taker for the chargers went at 7 RPO, Bhajji and Anil kumble went for 5.8 RPO.. And Murali Kartik's efforts went un-noticed largely because he was part of a team that lost consistently.. Dint pick up wickets but went at 5.9 RPO.. He was the 3rd best bowler in terms of economy rate.. The next best was Ravi Jadeja who went at 6.47... He caught the attention of the national selectors with his strong all-round showing in the 2008-09 Ranji Trophy - 42 wickets and 739 run.. In T20s,

Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	4s	6s

Twenty20

35

29

5

540

42

22.50

114.40

40

14

Take note: he can hit sixes.. !! 

Zak, Viru were injured during IPL and did not take part in many games.. Viru returned for 2 matches only to see his sides lose.. So, the injuries weren't out of the blue.. Gautam Gambhir was in poor form right throughout the tournament.. The selectors could have included Nehra, that was only the bone of contention..

The WC begins..

Warm up match-1, India loses to NZ.. 

Take note: RP gave 37 runs in 3 overs..  

RP Singh 1-0-10-0  RP Singh 2-0-21-0   RP Singh 3-0-37-1 (thats consistently getting hit).

I.Pathan 0 for 31 in 3..  Saving grace Bhajji 1 for 22 in 4.. Ishanth best 4 for 25..

Rohit played brilliantly for 36.. 

Warm up match-2, India thrashes Pakistan..

Take note: RP yet again 0 for 33 in 3.. Ishanth 1 for 11 in 3..

Rohit's spectacular knock and Gambhir knocking pretty well seals an Indian victory..

"Both against New Zealand and Pakistan, R P Singh proved particularly expensive towards the end as India bled some late boundaries in both the matches." - Headlines Today....

The match against Bangladesh..

Any cricket fan would have by now made up his mind that RP wont fit into playing11, if a cricket fan can decide that WHY NOT THE CAPTAIN.... RP SINGH CANNOT FIGURE IN PLAYING 11..

This answers Headlines Today, a news channel's stupid question of why RP was not played in all matches.. Dig your face into dirt u sports analysts.. Ishant takes 2 for 34 and Ojha 4 for 21.. Rohit performs well yet again..

So, the team stays the same for the next match, shouldn't it ?

vs Ireland

Zak takes a 4-for, hailed.. Zak is back.. Rohit performs well yet again.. Ojha and Bhajji again perform well..

vs West Indies

There are still no non-performers in the side.. Lord's, London.. The pitch doesn't take spin, Ojha is hammered.. MSD's fear comes true. Bowling at the death.. Found out technically.. India again play the bouncers poorly... That leads us to the question, has Rohit not played a single bouncer in Australia ? Hasn't he received fast bouncers in CB series in Australia or in IPL2, SA ?

The reason: As mentioned above, the technically sound player has transformed into a slogger.. An arrogant state when you think you can smash sixes of good balls too,( constantly hailed by all commentators and Gavaskar too that Rohit's best ability is to hit boundaries of good balls too)..

vs England

The do or die match..  The match under big scanner.. Takes a deeper analysis..  Lord's again.. So, playing Ojha again may not be that sensible.. Short boundaries square of the wicket poses threat to getting hit.. RP comes in.. Irfan has been less than impressive, dint swing.. Dint take wickets up front and was little too slow to experiment under a must win situation.. So makes way for Jadeja who can bat and bowl.. We have seen him in IPL and the stats shown above showes he CAN hit big sixes.. RP bowled well 3 overs for 13 runs.. Zak got hit for runs.. Bhajji and Jadeja were instrumental in getting the match to tilt in India's favor.. 2 for 26 in 4 overs from jadeja was exceptional.. Bhajji is undisputably the beat T20 bowler in India.. so 8 overs are out.. RP has done with 3, Yuvi 2 (to irritate KP basically)..  14th over was bowled by Ishanth, take a look at the commentary.

I Sharma 2-0-20-0

13.1	I Sharma to Mascarenhas, no run, chopped to point - good stop
13.2	I Sharma to Mascarenhas, no run, defended out to the off side and he roars "no"
13.3	I Sharma to Mascarenhas, 1 run, pulled, and pulled powerfully, but straight to the fielder
13.4	I Sharma to Shah, 1 run, a bouncer - good thinking by Sharma - and it's nudged off his chest
13.5	I Sharma to Mascarenhas, no run, pushed out to the off side
13.6	I Sharma to Mascarenhas, 2 runs, an ugly shovel. Tried to drive through cover but his bottom hand came off the bat and the ball worked its devilish way through the leg side
England 96/3   I Sharma 3-0-24-0

Ishanth has troubled the batsmen and gave just 4 runs away.. Jadeja gives away 4 runs in the 15th over.. If anybody has played cricket and is sensible enough will not think of RP now ahead of Ishanth.. So giving 16th over to him is absolutely justified.. Realistically, who had RP in mind to bowl 16th over ahead of Ishanth, leave alone RP not bowling 4 overs.. It was Ishanth's 4th coincidentally.. Now, how on earth is MSD supposed to give RP the over when Ishanth has bowled his previous over so well.. His confidence was on a high and had the batsmen in trouble, psychological advantage too.. It was only his young age that got the worse out of him sprayed the ball and Mascarenhas got the better of him..

3 overs for 18 and 2 wickets too, got the yorkers in and it was difficult for the batsmen to get away.. Give him the 4th over or not ?? Anybody who has captained at any level would give him the 4th.. Zak coming back ahead of RP has to go with Zak's yorkers at the death and thats what he has bowled for a long time.. This actually was the 50-50 call, not RP vs Ishanth.. Zak's experience vs RP's brilliance.. Rp was not so good at the death on many a match in IPL, though he did perform well on the other occasions..

Come batting, India once again bounced out.. Irresponsible batting from RS and Raina.. The ball was seaming around and the English were pumped up.., Yuvi always a circumspect against 3 S- swing, seam, spin.. It was risky to lose Yuvi at that time (if at all he gets out to the bowlers then).. MSD was a good option but true to his character he sent Jadeja in.. Dont forget, that when a player bowls well and then comes to bat and performs well we always say the player has carried the confidence from the bowling into batting and vice versa (bat first and bowl next).. Which means sending Jadeja is not a  bad option.. Dint we hail MSD when he gave Joginder Sharma the last over and very famously said - "its your moment to glory, perform well and you are the hero but if you dont I will be blamed, give your 100% ".. Its the same thing here, Jadeja carried confidence through to batting.. The mistake was the kid did not get going initially and succumbed to pressure, he should have remembered Warnie then and how well he had performed to reach to this level.. Bad luck.. Yuvi was padded up ever since and the poor kid did not hit and neither got out.. Ill timing of events i must say..  MSD and Yusuf were left too much to do though they scored 63 of the last 6.. India lost and were sent packing out of the WC..

The news channels then made MSD the villain, the foolish followers who know nothing beyond cricket being a game played with bat and ball start burning effigies.. This makes our ever popular media talk to all former captains who finally were happy to see MSD fail as it would make him more human and not a guy who turns whatever he touches to gold.. How can these people ever accept someone performing better than them!! And that too a player with no grace or technique, just an ordinary guy with immense confidence in himself and faith in his team, a player with the right positive attitude, a player who doesn't mind calling a spade a spade, a player who thinks intuitively and not by the rule books or go by what the laptop says, a player who could get the best out of all youngsters, a player who along with Yuvi and Dravid scripted many a successful run chases ( 17 consecutively), a player hailed by all senior Indian players in Sachin, Sourav, Kumble; the aussies, south africans and many more for having a cool head on the shoulders and being aggressive on the field with tactics...

This report from Headlines today was little too ridiculous to ignore :

"T20 WC: Team India's big lie nailed Suman Ray

It is not just Virender Sehwag who lied about his fitness, but the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni himself was not fit enough.

Headlines Today has exclusive access to the official fitness report of Team India given to the BCCI before the tournament began.

And the report says that not just Zaheer and Sehwag but even Dhoni, Yuvi and RP Singh were carrying injuries into the tournament."

Are these anything new ? We knew of Viru's injury.. We know Yuvi is carrying a knww injury and has been playing with a strap around it for ages.. We have not seen him field at point or backward point for a long time now.. Have we forgotten the 100 he got against ENG in the 1st ODI in India after suffering from back spasms and playing with a runner and a belt around his hips ? MSD has been complaining of lower back pain for a looooooooong time now, he even requested for the inclusion of a 2nd wicketkeepr for the WC only to be unheard of.. Aren't we unaware of Zak's fitness? It now actually becomes a better spirited performance from India dispite all these injuries.. Dont the media dare call them CHEATS or question their intent.. Its ridiculous..

There are a number of fans who blindly follow the game and do not know a thing or two of captaincy and call MSD's successes as "LUCK" , celebrate his downfall and seem to put on a show of not being disappointed at India's loss (owing to MSD alone).. Learn cricket, have leadership qualities, think on your own and then you will understand what captaincy is.. Once you know that, you will know how good MSD is.. Until then CUT the crap and stop advicing MSD on what he should have done, and that too after a defeat...This holds good even if you are from a tier 2 city and not played cricket enough to comment  or even if you are a former captain or player..