It's In TeH GaMe !!!

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 100^th 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?

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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)!

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Ever since Sreesanth and Harbhajan are back playing together, Mishra has just been watching them from the sidelines. Though for Mishra's ommision, Ojha is more responsible, but I couldn't resist myself from blaming Freesanth a bit. Even in their friendship talks, Amit is now kept aside like this -



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I did forget to mention Gautam Gambhir in the previous post. He is perhaps the most wanted by the villan - Complacent. LOL! I could not have thought of any name for this villan. Suggest me one if you know anything better than this. Someone's comparing him with Sunil Gavaskar, someone is awarding him checks of big amounts and few precious trophies, someone thinks he will lead India in the future. When I had a debate with my friends on this future captain of India, all they said was "Abbe pehle future tak usse team mein toh rehne de"(At least let him be in the playing XI in future). They were right on spot with this answer. He still faces a stiff competition from players like JP Duminy, deVilliers for world glory. There are many more that I can't remember.

In my opinion he is yet to face the real test on fast pitches like the ones in West Indies, South Africa. I didn't mention Australia above for the reason being that he did pretty well there last year.
Like any other young promising batsman in India, he has been a lion in his backyard. He looks technically perfect to be honest. The only problem that lags him behind is there aren't going to be many tests his country will play. And well...he is missing the next test too due to his sister's wedding. Seriously, a bad time for the wedding season to come in India. This also showcases his weaknesses. His biggest being the lack of ability to clear big grounds. But as there is this commonly known phrase says -

When there is a will, there is a way...

He is best known to bisect the gaps easily courtesy some good timing. He cannot loose these skills overnight. All he can loose is his form and fitness thanks to Lalit Modi and Co. for their business league, better known as IPL. It will be interesting to see how he carries himself in the future.

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First of all, congrats to Team India for their 100^th 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.

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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.

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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!



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Not at all a good news for Indian fans.You all must have watched the match between the two arch rivals and have witnessed India's mistakes in such an important game. But one can't ignore the fact that this wasn't a full strength Indian side and surely missed world class players like Yuvraj, Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. I will highlight some of the things that went against India.
Firstly, Dhoni decided to have his par-timers bowl when India were going good and Yousuf and Malik were new to the crease. Had he continued with the pacers or even introduced Harbhajan Singh, India could have avoided the record partnership.
Bowlers bowled short on a track which seemed to be favouring the batsmen. India leaked away too many runs in the region behind square. They got the first tirthy overs right, not giving too many runs, but in the last twenty overs India conceded over 160 runs with a run rate over 8.
Gautam Gambhir made up for the early loss of Sachin Tendulkar and played a magnificent ininngs
before he got himself run out, this probably cost India the match, because he seemed to be simply unstoppable.
Middle order batsmen weren't able to maintain the run rate fell victims to Boom-Boom Afridi. Afridi's double blow consisting of Kohli's and Dhoni's wickets.
Suresh Raina being ruled out unjustly as the umpire did not notice the big inside edge. He lost his wicket just after striking two huge sixes. He along with Dravid planned a good recovery, but finally failed.

It has now become a knockout tournament for India, as Dhoni said. India must improve their feilding standards and the lines and lengths of the bowlers before the crucial game against Australia. I wish the Indian team ALL THE BEST!!!!!!!

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What a shame for the top order and what a game going on! A result is foreseen this time around. I would rather like India to go for a win than slowing down things and playing just for a draw. India's 1st innings is almost over other than (if)the last partnership between Ishant and Munaf can take the score to 450+ runs, it would be a merry and a cherry on the the cake served(I mean the efforts) by MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and SRT. Congrats to Ian O'Brien for taking his 50 wickets. He continues to show a fine package of disciplined line and length bowling mixed with some fine pace.

From India's perspective what really hurt me the most was the middle order slump just after the Tea. But it's good to see MSD back in the side and why not? He has shown his worth by scoring a half century. Bhajji has again showed that he can bat and mat his counterparts. And as the cricinfo.com commentators said, Vettori would really be hopping madly back in the dressing room after failing to stop the Indian tail wag and score runs heavily. Definitely, the Kiwis have underestimated Harbhajan and Co.

A few records were tumbled down on this day and another one which is regarding this blog is that Crick-O marks it's 100th post with this one adding to the total.

Now moving forward to expectations from India for Day 2 all I can say is 'reverse swing'. That's it. Chilly, windy conditions are perfect for the Indian seamers to get the bowl to swing and once again prove their mettle after being hammered in the 2nd test. But again, DON'T Underestimate Harbhajan Singh.

While many of the Indian supporters would be wanting to see the 100th test win for India, it would be too early to say anything, at least after looking the mauling Indian bowlers received in Napier.

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Bravo!! What a courageous performance from the Indian batsmen, especially Gautam Gambhir. Toiling for more than 11 hours under the hot sun is never easy. This makes me remind of Gautam's own surname(Gambhir) which in Hindi means serious, which he remained throughout his innings of 137. It's one of the most spectacular comebacks I have ever seen or heard of. Seriously, not many would have expected a draw once the bails were dislodged by the umpires to call it stumps on Day 3. And again, India has proved the majority wrong. That majority who would have put their money on Kiwis must be thinking how in this world did New Zealand manage to loose their best chance to level the series?


Jesse Ryder's efforts were in vain and nearly drained. After all he himself expressed his disappointment over this draw.

As an Indian what's good to see is first this draw; second the top and middle order is back in form; India can't loose the series now; Dhoni would probably be back for the final game.

Anyways, here are the analysis of the three departments in this game:

1. Batting - India: Very much neutral given the slump in the first innings and the strong comeback in the second innings. And as I have said, the middle order is fired up now that Yuvraj Singh is looking back in form. Sehwag was the only concern in this game, but I know leading India is not easy, and so he did have some pressure on him to anchor both the innings.

New Zealand: They still have some issues that are urgently needed to be rectified. The top still hasn't settled down. However, it was their middle order that not only helped them bounce from 23/3 to post a mammoth total of 619 runs but also has been a reason to cheer about. Ryder looks solid and to break at. Ross Taylor looked classy throughout his 151. Now even the captain himself is looking dangerous.

2. Bowling - India: Once the catches were dropped the New Zealand batsmen offered no resistance whatsoever. Ruthlessly they hammered the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground. The Indian think-tank would surely be wondering how they can stop Ryder. Precisely speaking, I thought that it was only Zak and Ishant who looked good but the third seamer again seems to be troubling India. In my opinion India should try swapping Munaf with Balaji or maybe go in with a spinner which would mean Amit Mishra getting to play his first game. Whatever it really is, the sloppy fielding has definitely let the bowlers down.

New Zealand: First a superb bowling performance which ended the first three days of the game in their pockets. And the next two were disastrous. Again, sloppy fielding even from New Zealand helped India get away with a draw. Chris Martin was clearly the star of the attack and has probably justified his selection. Franklin looked dangerous, Vettori was at his usual best. O'Brien was speedy. So should I say Jeetan Patel was spinny? Ahoy!!! True indeed. But then what went wrong all of them in the second innings? Was it the solid defense of the batsmen or the disastrous catching?

3. Fielding - India: Extremely disappointing. A bunch of butter-fingers truly.

New Zealand: Their's wasn't to good as well. They dropped many sitters. The worst one was on the final day when Ian O'Brien dropped Gambhir. Though it wouldn't have hurt the Kiwis too much but the catch was simply a sitter which even I would have held on 9 out of 10 times.

Both the teams do have a lot to think. It seems that India will not give the Black Caps any hope and chance of drawing the series. If India let their golden series win after 40 years go down it would be a shame. While New Zealand have nothing to loose from here on, India won't like to go down in the final test match to as well as their golden series win after 40 years slip away.

I am really looking forward for the third match that will begin on 3rd April.

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Road to IPL Season II has had so many hurdles and finally this latest one of shifting it out from India has probably deflated one of the wheels of the IPL vehicle. Now should I still call it Indian Premier League,English Premier League or probably South African Premier League?

You know why ? Just look at the points following below to understand my frustration and disappointment like many other Indians -

1. Player Values

Kevin Pietersen - $1.55 million - England

Andrew Flintoff - $1.55 million - England

Mahendera S Dhoni - $1 million - India

Even the icon players like Sachin, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj are receiving just about Rs 4.50 crores which are around $800000-900000 which of course is no comparison
to that of the new Bengaluru Team captain ,Kevin Pietersen.

2.Captaincy

Thanks to the above mentioned point about K.P.'s new role that made me stretch this topic of captaincy further. Does our Indian players have no knowledge of how to lead a side whatsoever? Or are the foreigners more brainy when it comes to this job ? Doesn't seem to be true, isn't it? At least not after looking at the current healthy situation of the Indian Cricket team.If this is not enough then here's another good example that would reprimand this thought that Indians are not capable of leading a side - Sourav Ganguly. Both of them have had the midas touch to lead India to victory. Recently, Mallya and Co. replaced Rahul Dravid with K.P. as the captain and they also made a remark that once K.P. is gone back to England...oops, I mean for his national duty(since IPL is likely going to be held in England), Kallis would become the leader of the pack. And the recent speculation of removing Ganguly from his job as the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders is nearly true. And it does seem that the former Australian, John Buchanan who is now the coach of Kolkata Knight Riders would replace Dada with the Australian captain who also used to lead under his realm, Ricky Ponting. Soon we might Mukesh Ambani replacing Tendulkar with someone else. Though again, you just can't forget that if a team does remarkably well and gets into a habit of winning, it makes the job easier for the captain whosoever he is.

3.Foreign Coaches
Do we have any other team other than Mumbai Indians without a foreign coach? Let alone the franchises in IPL, do we presently have any international team(exceptions : South Africa and Australia) that doesn't have a single foreigner in their support staff?

We have seen over a decade or so and in fact we still are seeing teams like Saffas and Australia making merry with their local coaches and staff. So why can't have our local coaches in IPL as well ?

Conclusion

90% about IPL is foreign now including the crowd and all the points mentioned above. It's just those franchise owners and BCCI that make the remaining proportion.
Now tell me, is there any Desi Tadka which makes Indian Premier League Indian?

Think about it and do share with us anything Desi about IPL.

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Yet again, India is showing their true domination and is near to tear all those records which suggests the smashing that previous Indian teams have received before in New Zealand. The bowling department has probably found a fitting bowling attack and especially the 3rd seamer in Munaf Patel. Tendulkar has probably blunted all those fingers pointing his retirement and form.

While on the other hand, the only bright rays of light for the Black Caps has been the all rounder, Jesse Ryder and Chris Martin's superb bowling. New Zealand nearly looks out of the game and they would now have to play the catch-up game in order to save the match.

Here's an extract from the day's play by cricinfo.com

Walk on
When Mahendra Singh Dhoni cut a wide delivery from Iain O'Brien, Ryder pulled off another athletic effort at gully, diving to his right this time, and claimed a low one-handed catch. Dhoni refused to walk, and was told by the crowd to "walk mate". Replays showed the ball might have touched the ground before reaching Ryder's hand. Dhoni was booed when the not-out decision was finally made. Three balls later, he went for a hook, gloved it, and walked right away. This time he was cheered.

This is hilarious. I do remember the Australian crowd doing the same to Indians during their tour late in 2007-08. In my opinion this is ridiculous, though of course, you do want to see your team win. But you can call it almost unfair. After all, Dhoni himself walks out so many times even when the umpires are doubtful whether it is out or not. He(or in fact any Indian batsman) has never ever refused to walk when they know they are out(a rare case if it is false).

Well anyway, here's another rare case -

Four for all
When Munaf Patel went down on his knee, and swept Daniel Vettori with one hand to the square-leg boundary to get off the mark, he became the ninth Indian batsman in the innings to start scoring with a boundary. Tendulkar and VVS Laxman started with one and two respectively.

Can anyone tell me if it has ever happened before?

The star of the day, Sachin has got another post in his name, this time from Naked Cricket - Sachin Tendulkar Exposed!

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Seems tough! Their main in-form bowler Ian Butler is on the bed and will be there for the whole series. Anyway, there's still one ray of light that has the power to spark and turn the game for the Kiwis - Daniel Vettori. And one more advantage for them is Tendulkar's injury. I guess that should be at least average to save the series. Other thing is that they have to work hard for victory. If they still can't, then all is lost for sure.

I wonder who would be in for Tendulkar ? Is it going to be Rohit Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik or maybe Ravindra Jadeja. My choice would be clearly Irfan Pathan as he would clearly add a bowling option as well as batting. This would create a balance as well. Also, it's time to get back Ishant back in side. And give some rest to Munaf.

I don't exactly know about the Black Caps when it comes to replacements and their squad as I am not a keen follower of them. Please suggest it yourself.

I would like to end this post with this quote by Rudyard Kipling from his poem 'If' which goes for both the teams :

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

Then and only then would you achieve your golden aim - The Game!

This last line was added by me myself though I know it won't do any justice to those real words of Kipling.

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Oh and finally I managed to watch the full game(I was suffering from severe fever so I didn't go to school today). Finally, it is a relieve on the face of the Indian fans as their team beat NZ by 53 runs(thanks to the D/L method).

The Kiwis looked totally helpless today. They were off colour and failed to make a mark in any of the department. The rain started to pour down heavily in Napier and the game was reduced to 38 overs a side. Viru was at his usual best. He hammered the bowlers all over the small ground. Tendulkar as I had said before wasn't really able to concentrate. After Tendulkar was out I, in fact most of those watching this game would have expected Gambhir at No.3. But the captain Dhoni promoted himself at that one of the most important slot and did wonders along with Sehwag who was later dismissed by the Black Caps captain Vettori. Then came Yuvraj in the middle who couldn't do much and was run out on a paltry 2 of 13 balls. Bringing himself(MSD) and his deputy at the top clearly showed the intentions of the Indians to go after the ball even in the middle overs. In my opinion that wasn't a good move. Number 3 and number 4 are that kind of positions which requires(and in fact gives them the power) the batsmen to control the pace of their team's innings. I would have preferred to bring either Raina or Gambhir at No.4 as this would have created a balance between aggressive hitting and singles and doubles. But Dhoni was in some other mood. He rather himself was first settling down by rotating strike with Raina who scored a solid 66 of just 39 balls which was the turning point of the Men in Blue's innings. India ended their batting with 273 runs on the board with the loss of 4 wickets at the average of 7.18 runs per over. Awesome ! Isn't it ?!

There was more to come. The hero for NZ in both the T20s - Brendon McCullum was caught for a duck. The scoreboard read 111-4 in 20.5 overs when it started to rain again. The match was now reduced to 28 overs and the new target set for the Black Caps was 216 runs. Perhaps, one would say that the rain made things difficult for the islanders. It surely did. The pressure revolved around Martin Guptill to score as quickly as possible. But the Indian bowlers, especially Harbhajan Singh had different ideas. The 24th over of the Kiwi innings was a dream over for Bhajji. He quickly dismissed Guptill, Neil Broom and Mills to reduce the New Zealand from 132-5 to 132-8. Soon it was all over for Vettori's men in black. They ended their run chase managing 162 runs with the loss of 9 wickets.

Finally, the Indian team seems to have settled down well and are reading the conditions well! There's a lot more to think for Vettori and his team.

India leads the series 1-0 winning the first game tonight.

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It's surely very disappointing to say the least. But this is how Indian team's luck has been going. Jersey changes...India looses ! The first T20 was in any case a disaster but the 2nd wasn't far behind either. Perhaps, the second T20 made the Indian pace attack a bit weaker with Ishant Sharma getting his shoulder injured while fielding. He never returned back on the field. And another disaster that could be in this whole tour for India is Brendon McCullum's sublime form. He is looking unstoppable. While on the other hand, for the first time both the Indian openers(Viru and Gambhir) looked helpless and of course...scoreless.

One of my friend was so frustrated about this loss that he screamed in my ears: "All the Indian wins now look to me a fluke." And maybe he's right. I was there in the school when the match was being played. I managed to get back home when the last ball was about to be bowled. I looked at the full scorecard and was completely shocked. Back in the game...Pathan was taking this run-up and I was praying the god like anything. But it was all too late. Pathan bowled a short one which in my opinion wasn't a bad one. When the ball was hit in the air, my heart just like McCullum was in my mouth. Luckily his heart came down to it's original position while I was still in a state of shock and was cursing Rohit Sharma for dropping that catch. But it wasn't a easy one to pull off.

What this series win has showed is that the Kiwis are one of the best team in this format and why not...they have beaten the world champions twice, in fact thrice(Yes! In all India-New Zealand encounters) counting the T20 world cup victory. Doesn't seem like India can win this T20 world cup. And I would recommend other Indian fans not to expect from their team. You know why ? Just like the inaugural T20 championship where not many had much hope(including me) of Indian victory, Dhoni and his boys proved them wrong. Similarly, if you ask too much from the team, they are obviously going to be in pressure.

Anyway, coming back to the present tour, I would like to see India hit New Zealand back hard in the ODI series.

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If India is really worried it is probably due to the weather rather than New Zealand. Because of this poor weather the Indians doesn't seem to getting used to the conditions in New Zealand which is completely different than that in India. Obviously, the Kiwis are comparatively inexperienced than the T20 world champions. Though again they do have the home advantage. And to make it higher is the low weather conditions which aren't letting India to practice to get used to the conditions.

Also, India had previously lost to New Zealand in the T20 world cup. Revenge must be on the back of the minds of Dhoni and Co.

Vettori had earlier said that hard hitting guys like Dhoni, the Pathan Bros, Yuvraj, Sehwag can hit the ball easily out of the small grounds in NZ. And one of my friend said: "If Yusuf, Dhoni and Yuvraj can hit the ball out of the grounds in Australia and India,then, even players who aren't known for their big hitting like Gambhir, Rohit Sharma can clear the boundary rope quite easily." And if you look at the big hitters in the Kiwi side, Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum are one of the most famous names. But batsmen like Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina have proved that T20 is not just about clearing the park. Instead strike rotating and quick running between the wickets is also very important. And when it comes to quick running and strike rotating, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are probably the best partners doing it regularly followed by their captain M.S. Dhoni.

In my opinion, the key players from both the sides would be -

India - Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh(big hitters to entertain the crowd), Pathan Bros(gosh...people would be expecting too much from them after their heroics in the T20 game against Sri Lanka), The bowling duo of Zaheer and Ishant( to see whether they prove good in conditions which are probably favorable to them)

New Zealand - Vettori(one of the best spinner and now the leader of the Kiwis), Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum(big hitters and match-winners), Jacob Oram(one of the finest all-rounder who has the skills to clear the grounds and pitch the bowl in the right areas)

The first T20 game is going to be played tomorrow in Christchurch.

For the full schedule click here.

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You've heard of cricket matches being stopped for rain, injuries and even streakers. But how often do we hear of matches being stopped by helicopters ? The Ranji one-dayer between Punjab and Services on Saturday was stopped for a full 26 minutes when a private helicopter landed bang in the middle of the Indira Stadium. Yes, you read it right. A helicopter landed in the ground.

As bizarre as it sounds, the pilot apparently mistook the 'H' sign — which stands for the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association — at the north end of the ground as a helipad!

To add to the confusion, a fire had broken out near the stadium, the smoke from which, the pilot misinterpreted as smoke signals.

Such was the force of the copter's rotors that the sightscreen at the pavilion end of the ground was shredded to pieces, while the cameras in pace for the BCCI coach umpire were destroyed.

Amidst the chaos, out came a man from the copter, seemingly oblivious of the mayhem his pilot had caused. He was there to look for the additional district magistrate. In fact, it was only when the HPCA officials had told the pilot had landed at a cricket ground, did he realise error in judgement.

Meanwhile, match referee Brijender Singh said the matter would be reported to the BCCI. As far as the damage to the BCCI equipment was concerned, Singh said the matter would be dealt with between the BCCI and the HPCA.

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They are at it again. Somebody said right about the present situation of cricket in India :

"Morons are on the run and are ruining the game"

BCCI has again proved why they are the stupidest board of the game. The Indian team ODI jersey is simply getting darker and darker!


One might wonder if the Men in Blue would turn Men in Black. Who knows ? Maybe, by the time I pass out my school, the Indian jersey could turn just around the color of the Black Caps(New Zealand). The New ODI Jersey

Maybe you are rich BCCI, but remember that recession might hit you as well!

Alright, now to be honest I am seriously worried about the growing hype around the team. Why ? Because whenever the hype grows up, the Indian team goes down. And to add to the woes is this new Indian cricket team look. Whoever the designer of this new look is, in my opinion he/she can be criticized as well as praise about. Criticized because of this dull, fugly look and praised because as Dhoni said,"Hopefully, this one won't get too dirty and this would save the laundry charges as well"!

Maybe I am being superstitious, but I am seriously afraid that NZ tour might be a disaster as World Cup 07 was when before it started, the Indian team jersey got another new look.

Yuvi's a good model indeed !

Throughout this presentation, Yuvraj was at his hilarious best, and this pose of him explains it all. Harsha Bhogle, who was the host of this event kept the audience in good humour with his Q & A sessions with MSD, Yuvi, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Dinesh Kartik and Rohit Sharma. Yuvi chose to add 'ask Dhoni' to a few of his replies. For instance when asked if he was happy with his batting position at No.4, he said: "Very happy, but you have to ask Dhoni. He decides the batting line-up."

In any case, even as I am ending this post, the fear of a disasterous tour of NZ is still looming large on my mind.

Anyway, I wish India the very best for their tour. Go India !!

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Krishnamachari Srikkanth is surely being too partial to his home state players. The Indian squad for the tour of New Zealand which is going to start late this February was announced. And I wonder from where did Dinesh Kaarthick fell into the squad instead of Ajinkya Rahane who has done far more better than him ? Is it just because Kaarthick is from the same state(Tamil Nadu) as Srikkanth ? Also Lakshmipathy Balaji was given a place in the squad. He failed to impress during the series in Sri Lanka. Though given the seaming conditions in New Zealand, it is understandable why he was in the squad. And of course, that was just one bad game for him.

It was good to see young Mumbai Dhawal Kulkarni in the test squad. I would have in any case picked him ahead of Balaji. Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel are back in the squad as well, though I wonder if the team needs them given the fact that the Indians did well even when both of them were not there. What really annoyed me the most was seeing Rohit back in the T20 squad. I still believe that he first need to make something in the one day matches and that too at a good speed before playing T20 cricket.

Even the previous chairman - Dilip Vengsarkar used to be a bit partial to his state team players. It was during that period that Rohit Sharma made his place into the team. He did reasonably well during that period. But he looks a bit off colour right now.

Anyway, the past is over and we now need to look at the present team selection for all three formats of the game going to be played in New Zealand :

Test squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Kaarthick, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Murali Vijay.

ODI Squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan.

Twenty20 squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja.

Over to you guys for your selection opinions.

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