The brainchild of BCCI that has led to India's shaky No.1 position
Now, most of you must have got the idea from the title itself. Of course, it is the IPL and Mr.Lalit Modi who have struck again. And they along with the whole BCCI individual giants are encouraging a format, where India doesn't even rank in top 5. Come on BCCI...why do you always have to something atrocious and harmful for the team in your control? Bring in some more tests please :s ...before we, the fans of Indian Cricket break your luxurious, exquisite office made from the money-through-IPL into bits and pieces.
For MSD and Co. somehow provided the icing on the cake by first marking Indian Cricket's 100th test win, and then of course, taking India to numero uno. Now that playing against minnows like Bangladesh is going to give India not even one single point in the table, and with the NZ test series still not confirmed, I doubt if India might even slip to as low as 3 or 4 in the rankings. Possible enough? Isn't it? Here is where, MSD's golden luck will come into play. Don't forget how SL players were left licking their wounds due to the lacking of UDRS. Had it been there, at least the 3rd test could have resulted in a draw. And now in the present and the future, if by god's grace, the Aussies and the Saffas could fail to make amends of the opportunities coming at them, it is going to be Dhoni's luck again.
Still though, credit has to be given to the whole Indian team, not only the one in the present but right from the 90s when our legendary heroes were cementing their place in the side right to youngsters coming in the side and doing well of late. Needless to say, it has been a long journey, and the whole of Indian Cricket deserves to cherish these precious moments. Who knows..kal India No.1 ho ya na ho?
God, Save Sri Lanka from this Aggressive Assault!
And the one who assaulted them had this to say in the post-day chat:
I just wanted to hit the bad balls.
Lmao! So did the Sri Lankan bowlers bowled only bad deliveries throughout the day? What in your opinion is a good ball Mr.Sehwag? :brow
Once SL was bowled out for near about 400 runs, they must have felt some security within their minds. They might have not thought of Sehwag showing them nightmares in broad daylight.
He is very close to achieve a feat where noone has stepped up yet - 3 triple hundreds. And what more, a chance to break Lara's record individual score. I won't go much into the details of his whammy-jammy innings for it might jinx him again. Oh did I say Jammy? How could I forget him ? For the first time India's run rate didn't go below 5 per over even when he came and batted for at least 130 balls. Is he trying to prove that he can play the ODIs?
One must applaud Vijay's effort as well. He made sure that Gambhir can have a memorable wedding party of his sister.
Yet again, like the last game, this match depends totally on how SL will bat tomorrow(they should, if Viru is there till at least the morning session.)
For now, let's just hail the blaster(yet not the master)!
Play on India!
First of all, congrats to Team India for their 100th great win against still a weak team in tests - Sri Lanka. Now you might think I am mad for calling a World No.2 team weak. Apologies to all SL fans out there. But hey, beating a side that did not even tour with the dangerous slinger and the Matara Marauder is still weak. Moreover, if you see, all the recent sucess that Sri Lanka has tasted has been against lower ranked test nations - New Zealand and Pakistan. To me this win doesn't mean much. There is still a long way to go. Let's hope India doesn't be for what it is best known to be - Complacent. They win 1-2 games, become complacent and this is it. The series is gone out of their hands. And one fine example is the thumping received against a depleted Australian lineup in the ODI series.
Sreesanth looked good, so did Ojha. Bhajji seems to have secured his place in the playing XI at least till the tour against Bangladesh. I pity Ishant and Mishra. Seems like they too had a dose of complacency. And now they are found warming up the bench and having some doses of painkillers.
Now the question comes...can this so-called potential World Champions guard against complacency and go on to win the whole series against the hurt lions still searching for a win in India?
Coming back to this game though, as I had hoped before, the pitch did start to deteriorate once Dilshan and Paranavitana came out on Day 2. And well...you all know the story there on. Ojha took a nervous catch on the first ball, Sreesanth probably bowled the best spell of his career so far(I hope there are more to come), Zak looked average though. Bhajji as said before, bowled in right areas.
Certainly, I have been gifted my birthday present this year by team India!
Back to the business, play on India.
An all Indian day!
Finally after a long time we have experienced a solid opening partnership by Gauti-Viru. In ODIs one might blame Sachin for blocking the next Ganguly-Sachin like opening partners. But hey, even he is doing his job well.
Never mind, back to the present game. After already witnessing two great tons, I do hope as an Indian supporter to see Dravid and Tendulkar cementing their positions on-field and score a ton tomorrow. But who knows, the pitch might just get better for the bowlers later. In fact if you see, even in the last game played at Kanpur where both Gambhir and Sehwag featured in an opening partnership was against South Africa in 2004 where they took the toll to 218 runs.
That game resulted in a draw. Let's hope it doesn't happen this time around. I won't say the pitch will continue to be a batting paradise for whole 5 days like the one in Ahmedabad. I just think the Sri Lankans weren't up to the mark, especially Mendis. It could have been much better for them...really better had Mahela not dropped Sehwag when he wasn't even off the mark. Sehwag really did punish all the bowlers after that cautious little period early during the morning session.
India look good enough to take the team total to at least 600 runs if they don't collapse. Tomorrow's first hour could be an important one especially for Dravid if he wants to capitalize his innings and score about 150 runs. The Indians have a strong line-up to come. But on a day even the line-up loaded with the likes of Laxman, Yuvraj and Dhoni can falter. And as I said before, if the pitch starts cracking up...expect Murali and Mendis to take revenge. In fact only these two, all the bowlers could come very handy.
Some Shocking Decisions
I turned my Television on at around 8:30 AM waiting for toss only to here the changes made in the lineups of both the teams.
First up was India - Sreesanth comes in for Ishant, Ojha for Mishra. The former one in my opinion was totally atrocious. How can Dhoni and Co. loose confidence in him. Did Dhoni forgot how he used to show confidence in players like Yuvraj(during his early reign as captain) who were once going through bad form? Ishant has to be considered a bit unlucky. If you see, he did well in the first two games against Australia during the ODI series. Yet when he got a little expensive figures to show in the 3rd ODI, he was dropped for the rest of the series. And yet again, Dhoni expected him to bring in some wickets for the team on a dead flat batting track.
Mishra's exclusion was no less than atrocious too. Again, Dhoni seems to have lost confidence in a young talented spinner bringing in another young turner. I anyways won't say much about it...after all it is Ojha's birthday today!
Then came the Sri Lankan captain. At once I thought Sangakkara might have made a good decision to bring back Mendis for injured Damika Prasad. But later, when he was taken apart by all the Indian batsmen, Sanga might himself be ruing this decision. Well...he has at least shown some faith in Mendis.
By the tomorrow is my 15th birthday. And so as a birthday gift, I do hope to see the Indians end this match as well as the whole series on a winning note.
Story of Ind-SL 1st test...So Far
My first post after a long time!
It couldn't have gone any worse for the Indian team. They really seem to be out of colors ever since the IPL. Oh well...in a way ever since I wrote my last post. They seem to be lacking the self-confidence and form that they carried with them coming into the year 2009.
The 3rd day was totally dominated by the Lankans thanks to some over-defensive tactics by MSD. This is one kind of a situation where Aussie captain, Ricky Ponting found himself when his team came to India for a four match test series last year. All strange tactics, flat fielding and bowling resulted in zero-pressure on the Lankan batsmen. But you can't really steal the credit from their batsmen as well. They seemed to have batted India out of this game totally. The current lead is around 165 runs. Expect the lead to increase to at least 250 runs, and then the SL bowlers would have enough time to test the so-called experience batting order of Indians.
What really annoyed me was the fact that the singles kept coming on quite easily. I wouldn't have set such a field even in shorter formats of the game. MSD seems to be lacking his out-of-the-box thinking. Or if you would like...his stars are not shining, therefore his gambles not paying off well. But why blame him alone? Some non-sensical and lousy bowling also resulted in Jayawardene duo getting away. Mishra just kept bowling from around the wicket, outside the leg to both the batsmen expecting the ball to turn miles(which of course even Warnie would have been able to do). Bhajji still seamed to be confused and a bit insecure. And part time bowling of Yuvi was at its worse. Either he bowled short, or bowled non-turning half volleys with 5-6 fielders outside the 30 yard circle. Ishant and Zaheer too looked decent enough.
Indian Batting in the 1st Innings -
The first half or so of the game sent shockwaves throughout the dressing room. Right after the 6th ODI against Australia played earlier this November, this was another top-order collapse. I remember Viru once said how fatherhood has made him more responsible even in his game. It seemed true for quite a while. Sehwag injured...he came back and with him came back the showdows of his gameplay during his early days when he used to get out trying to hit every ball out of the park. As one senior batsman, one does not expect this out of him. And the collapse continued to follow...Sigh. But again, the SL have stolen the credit for utilizing the early conditions well, especially Welegedara. Yuvraj,Dhoni and Dravid played extremely well to help India reach a total which looked completely out of India's reach.
What Can really Happen Now?
For India, it's near to nothing. They failed to attack Lankans the way a top team is expected to do. As an Indian supporter, I do hope to see India coming back well and at least saving their skin by drawing the game.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka have got an excellent chance to register their first win on Indian soil. Tomorrow's day is going to be very interesting and important one!
Crick-O condemns attacks on Sri Lankan players
It's a very shameful act by those cowardly terrorists. This attack is only destroying Pakistan's image in international world. The SL team bus was on it's way to Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore when all this happened. Five cricketers, including Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, and his deputy Kumar Sangakkara, received minor injuries.The other 3 were Ajantha Mendis, Samaraweera and Paravitarana. According to cricinfo Samaraweera and Paravitarana were most seriously hurt. Pakistan is also to host Champions Trophy later this year which now seems impossible to happen. For the full coverage on this attack you can go here - Lahore terror attack cricket at Cricinfo
The tour has obviously been called off.
I pay heed to all the cricketers(and hope for their speedy recovery),other victims and their families.
You can also express your sorrow over here by posting in the comments section.
India vs Sri Lanka T20 - Who has the edge ?:
Alright guys, I am ready to watch today's exciting T20 game between India and Sri Lanka! To me the Indians seems clear favorites(not because I support Indian team but we know what the t20 champions can do). Though nothing can be said about this unpredictable game. You may seem to be thinking - "Okay, now we are going to win it clearly.", and then suddenly your team looses a couple of wickets and with it the chance of winning the match.
It is also going to be the first T20 game being hosted in Lanka, and I am pretty sure, the Lankan fans wouldn't like to go back with disappointment written all over their face.
There were a few surprises given to me by both India as well as Sri Lanka in selection matters. Sri Lankans won't be having Jayawardene and Sangakkara as well as the spinning duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajanta Mendis playing this game. Which means things will get tougher for the stand-in captain Dilshan. Meanwhile in the Indian squad I was expecting a player like Robin Uthappa(form doesn't matter to me in T20 cricket). We can't forget his heroics during India's glorious win in South Africa. The rest of the squad seems pretty much fine and I was expecting this.
Here's my pick of Indian team's playing XI for today's game :
Gautam Gambhir
Virender Sehwag
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
M.S. Dhoni
Yusuf Pathan
Irfan Pathan/Rohit Sharma
Pragyan Ojha
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Praveen Kumar
The Sri Lankan team looks very new to me and since I don't follow Sri Lankan cricket, I am not sure about their line-up. So I leave it to others to pick their playing for both the teams.
The match is going to begin at around 7pm IST(Indian standard time).
God !!! I still believe India isn't that consistent.
Obviously the standard has increased and somewhat it good enough as of now. But I must say, India could have done better today. They can't take a dead rubber lightly. The fielding was sloppy, the bowlers were whacked all over the ground by the Lankans which seemed pretty similar to the whacking they(Sri Lanka) got in the previous two ODIs. The batting wasn't up to the mark either. Should I blame everything to the toss ? Maybe I should. After all, the team who has won the toss has always won throughout the series. And as achettup replied to my comment in his post, it might have been very much true if Mahela had won all the 4 tosses in the previous games.
Though the best reason for this loss in my opinion is Dhoni's over-experimenting with the line-up. I would have wanted Zaheer and Sachin back in the playing XI if I also wanted Jadeja and Balaji as it would added some experience to the team. Jadeja did fairly well on his debut. He made a patient knock(although a quick fury of runs were needed) of 60 runs in 77 balls. Though he wasn't as impressive as a bowler as one might expect him to be. Balaji couldn't do much, since the Srilankans for on fire. So goes for the other bowlers as well.
Well anyway, now the series is over and India has done extremely well. While on the other hand Australia's downfall continues though it was a bit of relieve for them as they won the 3rd ODI against NZ. While the race for No.1 spot is still open. Before writing this post I also learnt that the team on the No.1 spot as on April 1 2009, will be awarded US $175,000 while the team in second spot will get US $75,000 by the ICC.
Muralitharan eyeing another record
All Murali needs is to take 3 wickets in the upcoming ODI series against India to achieve another milestone - highest wicket taker in One Day Internationals, taking over Wasim Akram's tally of 502 wickets.
I would certainly not like him to take these 3 wickets against India. But there are five games to be played and in my opinion a class bowler like Murali would easily achieve it in this series itself, no matter how good the opposition is against spin.
The series kicks off tomorrow in Dambulla. The favourites seems to be India taking their 5-0 series win against England last year. They would like to continue their good run while the struggling Lankans would be looking for revenge since their loss to Indians last year when they lost it 3-2.
Players to watch out for - Virender Sehwag(India), Muralitharan and Ajanta Mendis(Sri Lanka).
Anyway, I would like to wish Muralitharan the very best for his upcoming record ( if it does happen!).
India's tour of Sri Lanka schedule revised.
Another tour....another revision. On Thursday, BBCI announced the revised dates of India's tour of Sri Lanka as follows : Jan 26: Indian team arrives Jan 28: First ODI (Day) at Dambulla Jan 31: Second ODI (D/N) at Premadasa, Colombo Feb 3: Third ODI (D/N) at Premadasa, Colombo Feb 5: Fourth ODI (D/N) at Premadasa, Colombo Feb 8: Fifth and last ODI (Day) at SSC, Colombo Feb 10: Twenty20 International (D/N) at Premadasa, Colombo Feb 11: Indian team departs. So... there are 5 days to go for the first ODI to begin.
As I had said, India to tour Sri Lanka
I had previously mentioned in one of my posts that India might play against, it proved out to be true. India will be touring Sri Lanka next month to play a series of 5 ODI and one T20 game.
Though the dates have not been finalized, but for now this is sure for now that India will be touring Sri Lanka next month before their tour to New Zealand.
As soon as the dates are announced I will try to update you as early as I can.
