On and Off for next few days

I know some of you visit this site regularly and I sincerely thank you for your patronage. That is what keeping this blog going.
I will be on and off for the next few days as I am in the process of relocating to Dubai from India and so will be busy with other stuff. Meanwhile I will not be completely out also.!

I will be back regularly as soon as I can.

Thank again,
Gana

Time to see a different perspective - Cricket - Fox Sports

Patrick Smith writing for the Australian puts Ponting's miraculous catch in the third final into perspective.

"

That said - on bended knee - we dare make an observation about Ponting's catch on Tuesday afternoon. Given that he fell to the ground, the ball behind his body and rose with a halo above his head, this is a delicate moment.

But the catch was not the best ever seen. It wasn't even the best taken on the day. Andrew Symonds took a superior catch when he threw himself forward to hold a mis-whacked drive from Chamara Kapugedera. Technically, there was no comparison. Ponting hurled himself backwards in hope, Symonds dived forward having calculated perfectly the estimated time of arrival of Kapugedera's shot.

"

Time to see a different perspective - Cricket - Fox Sports:

Revamp of the one-day game must happen now - Cricket - Sport - smh.com.au

Mark Waugh proposed several changes to the existing One day games rules and seems to have suddenly realised that it is getting stale after watching the tri nation series this summer down under.
In my opinion, the only proposal worth considering is

. The boundaries on the grounds are too small. On the large Australian grounds the rope is sometimes 20 metres in from where it could be. Make it fair - mis-hits surely shouldn't be sailing over the rope for six.

I always think batsman like Afridi gets lots of sixes even when mis hits especially in small grounds.

if you are interested in reading rest of the proposal. Click below.


Revamp of the one-day game must happen now - Cricket - Sport - smh.com.au

Eng Under-19s 12/3 (Ali 0*) 4.1 overs chasing 293 to win Under 19 WC SF

India under 19 team is all set to emulate their seniors and women team to reach the World Cup final. After setting a challenging target of 293 Indian bowlers have reduced England to 12/3 in 4.1 overs.



Eng Under-19s 12/3 (Ali 0*) 4.1 overs Innings Break - Cricinfo

Tendulkar is the greatest - Says 'Typhoon'

Frank 'typhoon' Tyson compares the three best players of this era ( Tendulkar , Lara and Ponting) and considers Tendulkar to be the greatest of them all.

Quote

Coincidentally all three must be classified as front-foot players — symptomatic perhaps of the pluperfect wickets on which they bat. Ponting even hooks and pulls as he advances his front foot down the pitch in front of the batting crease and only gets into trouble when he plays back, becoming chest-on and cramped by incoming balls which often lead to his downfall, lbw or caught in the slips.

Lara's backlift is initially all hands and vertical, followed by a good shoulder rotation: a feature which allows him to play those characteristic "Not a Man Moves" cuts, drives and pulls which bring him his enormous scores. His footwork is as nimble as Nureyev's and he has inherited Garry Sobers's mental ability to play long innings. His only discernable weakness, exploited by McGrath in the 2005-06 West Indies series in Australia, is the chasing drive outside the off-stump and the inevitable edged catch to gully.

Tendulkar has been burdened with the traditional comparison with Bradman — an analogy made by the "The Knight" himself, who likened the diminutive Indian to himself in his younger days.

Tendulkar is my favourite in this trio of stars — because of his correctness. He is the Parnassian batsman: a player who seeks technical perfection and is never satisfied until he achieves it. His initial trigger movement is a slight shift of weight on to the toes of the front foot, followed by a full commitment to the chosen stroke. Classically straight, his achilles heel is his tendency to flirt with balls outside the off stump; deliveries which he sometimes edges when he fails to move across and get behind them.

So abideth these three; Ponting, Lara and Tenduilkar. But the greatest of these is Tendulkar.

Read the full story here

Tendulkar is the greatest

Sachin's leaves

Now everyone know about India's wonderful chase against Pakistan in the 3rd one dayer and also about Dhoni's outrageous batting. Call me superstitious but as soon Sachin got cramps I suddenly remembered that unforgettable night in centurion, SA in WC against Pakistan and rushed home to see India pulling off the win. Just as that day
- Sachin got cramps and played one of the best one day innings even better than 'that' one
- Sachin got out in 90s producing another one for the list of non centuries that won a match.
- Dravid and Yuvraj Singh reached us home in that match and Youvraj Singh and outrageous Dhoni in this match.

It might be blasphemous but at this point Dhoni is as good as the incomparable Gilchrist in winning the matches. Dhoni was declared MOM on split decision but as Imran said on the 'Straight Drive' in Ten Sports , Sachin's innings was one of the best he played. The following blog on Cricinfo sums it up well.

"With that as the backdrop, you can understand my queer feeling when I watched the game today. Here, right in front of my eyes, was the great Mr. Dravid, yes the wall himself, being turned inside out, struggling against the darting cutters and generally looking a mess against the new ball. And there was the great Mr. Tendulkar, against the same bowlers on the same pitch, judging line immaculately, shuffling nimbly at the crease and shouldering arms just at the right moment.

Here was Dravid, playing and missing, poking, almost choking under the seaming handcuffs. And there was Tendulkar, alert and cool, determined and completely assured, reading the angularities, predicting the bowlers’ tactics, thwarting, thwarting, thwarting. Asif and Gul were jagging it all over the place, breaking through the defensive fortress that is Dravid but against Tendulkar they had not a chance.

For nearly seven overs, he dodged and no amount of movement appeared to matter. His 95 runs made the vital difference between India’s victory and defeat but nobody should forget those snaking deliveries that he harmlessly let go, helped remove the shine and laid out the easier path for the rest of the batsmen.

Tendulkar letting the ball go was a sight in itself. Tendulkar letting the ball go, while Dravid groped in the darkness, made the sight that bit more astonishing. "

Read the full post here.

Cricinfo - Tour Diaries:

Good start Mr.Strauss..but not the follow up

Andrew Strauss, who had a spectacular first season as England one day opener is just finding the curse of second season where a cricketer's true ability is inspected and exploited. Strauss looks foward to the oncoming tour of India by England Cricket team first by refering to the lonely planer guide on India but falls into all cliches down the line.
'uncomfortable hotels', dodgy meals ..give us a break and get on with it

Telegraph | Sport | The heat is on - but this time we're ready for it

Sri Lanka wins the first of best of three VB finals !

I had to apologise and accept the unpredictability of this glorious game. In one of my previous post before first match started in this VB series I had written this is a mis match and that SA and Australia are going to contest the final. That did not happen and on top of that Sri Lanks won the first of best of three finals quite easily.

When was the last time you saw five run outs in a match.? I am sure statisticians will be out tomorrow proclaiming another world record. Dilshan with his four run outs and a cameo innings surely has to be the man of the match.

Overall I am happy for Srilanka :)

Second match in Sydney is also going to be very competitive and don't be surprised if Sri Lanks win that one too. ( Or did I just jinxed them ? )




SriLanks beats Australia - Full Scorecard

Javelin throwers and Bedi

Bishan Singh Bedi takes a potshot at his favorite sportsmen , Javelin throwers..err Cricket bowlers. Sometimes he talks sense and sometimes nonsense. Isn't that the very meaning of senile by the way ;)
Quote

Only a few days ago, I was watching a fairly recent Sri Lanka vs South Africa replay of a match on the box. Sri Lanka's highest Test wicket-taker bowled a couple of leg-breaks. I was baffled with the clean action, perfectly correct and normal release of the ball with least assistance from the elbow, which, for some odd reasons, is overplayed when off-breaks are thrown up. All puns intended!

Read the rest here.

'Chuck out the Javelin throwers'

Keep exaggeration at bay

In a thought provoking article, Rohit Brijnath, one of the finest sports writers of our times talks about Indian fans' tendency to exaggerate everything.
Quote

"Sometimes you wonder whether Sachin Tendulkar listens to what India says about him as he fluctuates between being mocked as Endulkar and hailed as Tondulkar, a substantial talent glibly dismembered one day and resurrected the next. But then, such are the times of unreasonable overreaction we exist in.

In the often dazzling hysteria of Indian sport, one that has stalked Sourav Ganguly in recent times, balance has become the primary casualty. Fledging careers are blithely proclaimed as masterpieces and grand men dismissed as novices. Overstatement flourishes and hype is in danger of becoming a sporting anthem."

Read the full story here
The Hindu : Sport : Keep exaggeration at bay:

The Spin is back

I have always been a big fan of Spin in 'The Guardian'. The column is always full of fun, witty comments and this time it is no better. The author this time discusses on England's upcoming tour of India and thinks that England is still stuck up in Sept,2005.
As he says.

It was a painful reminder of the fact that England, for all Vaughan's good intentions, are in danger of remaining stuck in September 2005. In just over three weeks' time, they begin a Test match at Nagpur. Once they have stepped out of Buckingham Palace on Thursday, they need to take one look at their medals and then lock them in a safe at Lord's. Otherwise, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Anil Kumble will eat them for breakfast.

But the best part of this column was this comment from a member of the 'public'.

"I reckon they've picked that Monty Pasannah to please the Muslim community"

.

Shoib needs to be tested again..especiall his 'effort' ball

Throughout the test series I felt that Shoib was chucking his effort ball. It was clearly visible to naked eye atleast to my naked eye. ICC might call it optical illusion but I think he needs to be tested again under the newly revamped rules. Gavaskar yesterday discussing on ESPN sportcenter mentioned that ICC does not clear a bowler of chucking for life time and one can be reported again and again. Isn't time to do something about it ?

Trevor Chesterfield writing for IE has the same views.

"So when India’s coach passed comments about Shoaib Akhtar’s action, it should be known where the middle Chappell brothers was coming. There was something decidedly peculiar about Shoaib’s action when he bowled in Karachi.

Watching on television is, admittedly, hardly the same as being at the venue. But Shoaib’s action was noticeably slingshot and thus suspect at times and it appeared he was out to deliberately hit the batsmen. Snow didn’t need to do that. He was too good."

Full story here
Chuck it, Pak, Greg knows what he's talking about

Sundries - Inzy...the most exciting character on Cricket field

With his latest 'bizarre' dismissal Inzy has proved once and for all that he is one of the most exciting cricketer when batting. it is never boring when he is batting even between deliveries as the latest dismissal where he was given out trying to obstruct the field.

I was reading the excellent blog by Zainub and picked up this quote from Inzy which made my day.

Nevertheless, I thought it was absolutely hilarious the way he came out in the presentation ceremony, barely smiling, tottering along at his usual snail’s pace, and then come up with his gem when Ramiz ‘congratulated’ him on becoming the 2^nd Pakistani to be given out in this way after him:

‘I tried not to hit it in Faisalabad, and I was out, I hit it here, and I was out again, I don’t really understand this rule’.

Is that funny or what ?

Link to Sundries:
Sundries - Yogi Bear - BlogHoster

Super Symonds is fielder of dreams

Jonty Rhodes rates Andrew Symonds as the best fielder of all time and I don't think many would object !

Asked to rate the best fielders he had seen, Rhodes said: "There are so many aspects: the ground work, the hands, the arm, the speed. Look at a guy like Mark Taylor. He might not do everything in the field but he had the best hands I've seen in my life.

"Or Shane Warne in the slips, he has beautiful hands as well. Mark Waugh, [South African captain] Graeme Smith - Graeme has taken some great catches, but take him out of the ring and he's lacking a bit.

"Brett Lee is superb in the outfield. They all have great specific skills, but Andrew Symonds is the one who has got it all."

read the full story


Super Symonds is fielder of dreams - Cricket - Sport - smh.com.au

England can take heart from India's collapse

Amit Varma writing in Guardian on the last day of the third test has this to say.

There were plenty of lessons for England in India's heavy defeat. Asked to chase 607, they were bowled out for 265 yesterday, losing the third Test and with it the series 1-0. In less than a month they take on England in a Test at Nagpur, and there is much their opponents will be able to use against them.

India's batting is vulnerable if the openers are out early. Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag fell in the first two overs of the fourth day, and the game was effectively over. Dravid and Sehwag have been India's two critical batsmen over the past few years, and the side depend on them in different ways. Dravid's decision to open gives the opposition a chance to get both batsmen out early, and puts huge pressure on the rest of the side. That is exactly what Pakistan exploited.

What do you think ? Do you agree ? I personally don't think Amit Varma is right on any of those accounts.
- Harmisson is not as fast as Shoib Akthar and anyway we all know that he suffers from homesicknees when touring.!
- Sachin has not lost it, not yet! The square drive and the pull shot he executed against Shoib Akthar in second innings were as good as any one can see.
- India is likely to play a regular opener against England in India. I think we should define a new role for Sachin and ask him to open .

Your comments please!

Guardian Unlimited Sport | Cricket | Cricket: England can take heart from India's collapse

Dravid-Chappell experiments in Tests not working - India in Pakistan 2006: HTCricket.com

"Laxman walking out to open the innings in Karachi was not a great idea at all. Sehwag is a regular opener, averaging around 100 against the hosts. His absence gave the Pak bowlers a psychological advantage.

Though Laxman had opened the innings in the initial part of his career, he had always been reluctant to do so as he felt his style of batting was more effective in the middle order. The positions for the batsmen in Test matches assume high importance in the way they mentally prepare for the game. I have every reason to believe that the Rahul-Greg duo has gone too far in experimenting in the Test matches too."

Says Javagal Srinath in his column for Hindustan Times. Shows the lack of knowledge on his part. Doesn't it ? Sehwag was not allowed to open in that innings because he was off the field for some time during India's fielding and the rule says that a batsman has to come down the order if he goes out for taking rest during fielding.

Read the rest of his views if you want to !
Link below.

Dravid-Chappell experiments in Tests not working - India in Pakistan 2006: HTCricket.com:

Harakiri in Karachi

It is harakiri in Karachi as Indian batsmen suddently found dynamites in pitch and succumbed to Pakistani bowlers one after another. It is 239/8 chasing a target 607 to win and batting 5 sessions to draw this match. Only interesting thing left in this match for Indians is to see whether Yuvraj can reach his century or not. He is on 97 and he should get his century unless Zahir Khan/RP Sings suddenly gets exploded !

Anyway script was written all along for this abject surrender from day one ever since Kamran Akmal took away the control from Indian bowlers. Indian bowlers bowled badly with RP Singh being the worst in both the innings. Pakistani bowlers bowled full and were rewarded with wickets. Pressure of huge score was too much for Indian batsmen third time around and they were clearly could not take it day after day.

I am disspointed by Sehwag's batting throughout this series. Everyone went gaga over his first test century of 254 but has anyone observed how he was dropped early in his innings. Pakistan offered lots of chances to him and inspite of that fact he could not continue.His technique is poor and he cannot rely on his hand eye coordination on all kinds of pitches . Laxman is another one who disppointed us. Much was expected of him especially in his favorite position and what a let down it has been getting out in both the innings in the same fashion. Again lack of footwork and lack of proper technique in handling the moving ball. Sachin batted beautifully in both the innings of this test as long as he was in but lack of concentration in the first innings and pressure in the second innings got him.

Gilchrist leads a revolution

Peter Roebuck explores the role of modern wicketkeeper and find them to be changed mainly because of one man, Glichrist.

"Wicketkeepers have changed. Everyone used to know which bloke attended to the stumps. He was the noisy little fellow wearing a silly hat, large pads and pruning gloves. They were specialists pursuing a calling beyond the comprehension of the hewers of wood and turners of sods around them. They were a singular bunch, a brotherhood. One county keeper used to ignore anything down the leg side on the grounds that incompetence was not to be encouraged, remarking 'there go a few more rhododendrons' as the ball passed by"

Read the full story.

Gilchrist leads a revolution - Cricket - Sport - smh.com.au: