Late Cut

Pataudi series is at a very interesting stage. After comprehensive defeat in Lords test, fans of the Indian tram were not only disappointed but angry as well. They were not expecting number 1 test team in the world to capitulate so easily. Even though India lost the first test there was no anger amongst the fans since India did not lose so badly. Disappointment, definitely. However, the way in which they surrendered in the Lords test even after significant time loss due to rain, simply raised the fears again that Indian team is a tiger only at home. The team of Virat Kohli had no space to go back; not one step. And they responded splendidly. After losing the toss, when England send them into bat in very helpful conditions, their batting responded like a true champion. First innings total of 329 was par score on that wicket and conditions. To add to that, their bowlers performed tremendously. In conditions far better than their opponent, England capitulated for a meagre 161 which...

Five tests and Indians proved to be duds, even after winning a famous test at Lords after a long time; and that too more for the way in which they won rather than the result itself! Perhaps for the first time England were bounced out by Indians! They have been spun out many times but bounced out?? I never though I would live to see that..Strange thing though was that some bouncers were actually quite friendly!! Only a few were in the West Indian category of eighties. But Poms reciprocated the chivalry of Indian bowlers by being even better hosts, and hit them straight down the throats of very visibly placed deep midwicket, square leg fielders. Honestly it was as much an English loss as it was an Indian win. This is not to detract from one of the finest and worthy centuries in the history of Indian cricket; a superlative century in the first innings by Ajinkya Rehane on a spicy wicket and against a skilfully mean set of seam bowlers. Or a singularly unidirectional but lion-hearted...

Indian cricket team is once again living up to its tag of being unpredictable. The difference is till now in the tournament, it has shown the kind of consistently dominating performance that can only be termed as oxymoronic for Jekyl and Hyde nature that Indian fans are so used to. It is indeed a pleasant surprise. I thought they would be tested by the Sri Lankans, but probably the toss going in favour of Indian captain and then the support he got from his new ball bowlers in forst 15 overs, really put a nooze around the Lankan throats. Dhoni is too smart a captain to let that loose; to me the brilliance of his captainship was a decision to take the pads off and bowl a few overs when his main pace bowlers were coming close to exhausting their quota and clearly, one of the best batsman of spin bowling ever, Mahela Jayavardane was waiting for spinners to come on. Dhoni got the nod from Aleem Dar with a hooping in-swinger, only to be denied by the DRS. But that and Dhoni's spell infac...

Brutal Veeru Sublime Veeru Viv like Veeru But most importantly, Focussed Veeru!! Though this innings of Virender Sehwag came against a reasonable rather than testing bowling and a feather-bed of a wicket, the way in which he approached it, indicates that if this player puts his mind to it, he can break all possible records in the annals of this game. To me, this puts Veeru right besides my most favourite batsman of all time, Viv Richards. There is lot more to Veeru than mere statistics, but they do tell something. Look at the following charts and it will show how Veeru is the most non-discriminating batsmen ever. He does not discriminate against any type of bowling, conditions, match situations and most importantly, the state of his own innings. He treats all same...one-dimensionally. If a ball is bowled, it is meant to be hit! And he rarely hits a shot in anger....he doesn't need to. He started off a little circumspectly, as his first 50 runs came off 41 balls or a ...

Reading an interesting article by News Limited's Senior Cricket Correspondent, Malcolm Conn in the Sydney Daily Telegraph of Sat, 6-Aug-11, just confirmed a few things I already know. Since this article is unavailable on-line, it is given below verbatim, in full, including two pictures. _________________________________________________________________________  Why India doesn't want to know about the technology that Australia can bring to Umpiring decisions: Malcolm Conn These photos prove why India has been using third rate technology as an excuse to stop video umpires ruling on the leg before wicket decisions. The photos (left) with the spars red dots highlights the cheap and inaccurate system the International Cricket Council used during the recent World cup, which raised India's ire. The tightly packed white dots in the photo (right) shows the space age technology Channel Nine began using last season and will use again for the New Zealand and India series this s...

25th of June 1983 is a day of national importance in India; a bit like 15 August or 26 January; at least for cricket fans. That is the day when Kapil's Devils lifted the world cup against mighty West Indians at Lords. It was completely unexpected; no one including Indians themselves gave them a snowball's chance in hell. Not only because India were the perennial strugglers of One day cricket. West Indians were undisputed champs and quite simply unbeatable....till that fateful catch that Kapil took over his shoulders, running backwards.That catch epitomizes the genius of the best all rounder India has produced and definitely one of the best ever. It was a low scoring game and bowling and fielding were highlights. Kapil lead from the front and Indian magic was rightfully credited to the big-hearted man. Today, India needs another similar performance in the field. Indian world cup 2011 campaign has been epic. So much so that both epics of Hiindu  संस्कृति (culture) will be rep...

India V Pakistan must be the biggest rivalry in sports history if the audience number or emotions or even hype are criteria. And when the contest is for the World cup and a knock-out likely result, it does not come any bigger than this. Often the match-up has lived up to its expectation in terms of quality of cricket. There are many articles clogging up the cyber space these days highlighting that and every one has their own favourite encounter. Being an Indian cricket fan, for me it is difficult to get away from the hype, thouh in recent times my emotions have been tested more by an India-Australia encounter. But still, India-Pakistan is India-Pakistan; the mother-of-all contests. I still remember that incredible Sharjah game , 125 plays 87 game, in 1985 that India won against all odds. And later in 1986 Pakistan returning the compliments at the same venue in another enthralling battle better known as Miandad's game . I still remember the feelings of being shattered as Mianda...

Three quarter finals have been done and dusted. Confusion reigns!! One major upset, one sort of and one a damp squib. Such a contrasting level of cricket skills seen in all three games....... confusion rains!! West Indian effort against Pakistan was a total washout; a complete disgrace and unworthy of last 8 round of a premier competition. May be West Indian team decided to take their revenge on Bangla spectators for the stones they received at their hands!! Me thinks that may be West Indians took it upon them selves to confuse the (g)hosts of match-fixers that inevitably tag along Pakistan team, like a Betal on Vikram's shoulder! May be this is a better way of taking the ghost of match-fixing out of equation?? Take that..we will shoot your odds to hell! And for free.... I mean, for cryinoutloud, how can batsman after batsman of international class miss simple straight ones? I thought I saw an expression of utter confusion on the face of Mohammad Hafiz. Poor fellow must be tryi...

  Welcome to the real curtain raiser to the world Cup. What has gone before this, minnows bashing or champions breaking TVs, its all an entré to the main course. If Ponting or Dhoni was asked before the start of this World Cup, which captain they would love to avoid most till finals, they would have mentioned each other. The fact that they face up to each other today to decide who misses out on a berth in the semi finals, is an indication of how much under-par they have performed. Australia, though got drubbed by the Poms in test series, showed their opponents their rightful place in ODI series winning handsomely, and maintained their supremacy in the ODI ranking. India, who on the other hand came into this competition from a difficult tour to South Africa where in spite of their main players not participating, did quite well in the ODI series and certainly surprised their fans and opponents equally. While Aussies were coming from a high, Indians were coming home. And with their...

The world Cup 2011 is simmering and started living up to the lyrics of its anthem, "De Ghuma Ke". It seems to have inspired quite a few players including a totally unknown teenager called Hiral Patel, of Canada!! The caning he gave to the world cup champions in a lost cause, especially the six over covers off the fastest bowler in the tournament Shaun Tait, will linger in the memory long long after the dust has settled in Mumbai. There has been a lot of talk about the minnows bashing; for a change it was nice to see Champion bashing! That's the beauty of sport; king for a day is far better than a pauper for life. Love it!!  One swallow does not make a summer, agreed; but it can make a painfully bad memory for life for some! Ask Zubin Surkari, who copped the brunt of Tait's thunder and came away with three balls! The Great Australian selector Andrew Hilditch must have been moved sufficiently to say " Tait needs to improve "!! What? for missing the goolies?...

2010 was perhaps the best year for Indian cricket in a long time. Perhaps only one that can match it was 1971, when India won two overseas series for the first time against powerful cricket nations, WI and England; not counting 1983 when India became world champions in One day cricket against the run of the play. In spite of Tendulkar, the Ram, being so dominant in Indian cricket, to me 2010 was the year of (VVS) Laxman. Five superlative innings that not only saved India but converted defeats into victories and changed the fate of every series. Review the following games and you will find VVS as the common denominator; the pillar of strength. SA vs India in India India vs Sri Lanka in SL Australia vs India in India New Zealand vs India in India India vs SA in SA And the last one against South Africa will be remembered for a very very long time. Indeed a water-shed moment in Indian cricket as it helped India to level the series for the first time in South Africa. Laxman was all ...

Sorry, have been flying around, so no contact. Heard this when I was a fly on the wall somewhere.. Small Boss (b) : Sir, this is brewing into a big problem. Big Boss (B) : (snaps out of his snooze with a Homer Simpson drawl) Brew, ahhaaaa....I love my brew. How can brewing be a problem? b : Sir, I mean the cricket scandal; this spot-fixing by cricketers may fix us. B : (suddenly sits up) How? b : Well Sir, obviously everyone will think if cricketers are so corrupt what about the cricket board? B : How can people connect cricketers to the Board? We said and did nothing when IPL kicked out cricketers, did we? b : Errrr..well, (coughs), sir, we sort of managed it...newspapers did report Sports minister's complain to his counterpart about being snubbed and a national insult and all the patriotic emotional..... B : (cuts him off) Well, that is just standard political rhetoric. Does not prove our connection to the players. If anything, it will prove to the world that the governm...