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?
Well Done NZ!
Test Cricket is certainly not dead. Sometimes it can just be a nail-biter too. And fine example is the 1st Test between Pakistan and New Zealand. So...T20 and Lalit Modi can and have to wait. And so can One day Internationals. The Vettori led and coached inexperienced team managed to get better of Pakistan in time. I pity Umar Akmal though. A veteran from Pakistan could have blamed the pitch for deteriorating or anything wrong happening, but this young boy has spoken everything with his bat. This shows the failure of rest of the batsmen to chase a score as low as 250 runs. These many runs are certainly considered low in test matches.
Vettori must have got thousands of hugs from his female physio now. Poor fella!
New Zealand vs India, 2nd Test : Incredible, Imemnsly Dedicated Indian Batsmen saves India
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.
Whose to blame for it ?
101.3 McGain to de Villiers, 1 run, clipped off the legs to the long-leg region. 100 up for McGain. This is the worst economy rate in Test history.
Here's a look at his beautiful figures -
And probably most of you might call this guy an idiot. But honestly, it's not completely his fault. The batsmen are mostly becoming aggressive and they do target a particular bowler even in test cricket. Though I haven't seen a single ball being bowled in this game, but from my experience I would say that even the hitting standards are increasing match by match. Now, if you have a look at previous test encounters around 2002, the average run rate of a strong batting team like South Africa would be around 2.50-3.80. But now teams try to score at a brisk pace of at least 4 runs per over. Secondly, how can we forget that it McGain's first game.
Bowlers O M R W Econ *BE McGain (lbg) 11.0 2 102 0 9.27 (0nb, 0w) -
What are your opinions on bowlers giving a century of runs ?
Yawn! Sony asks for delayed start to test matches
Whatta Match !!! There's excitement again !
It's just one of those Australia-South Africa games where 90% this is sure to happen. Though victory is still a far sight for the Saffas, but they have a good chance of getting away with a draw. Who expected such a great fight by South Africa lead by Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers ? I mean, of course there are great partnerships which take the game away from your opposition...but how often does it happen.
It would actually be a shame for the Aussies if they let go this chance out of their hands. Probably they were missing the services of McGain.
Whatever it is...the match is now slightly evenly poised. Australia still has the chance to bowl out South Africa while they face a daunting task of chasing 302 runs more to complete what would be known as a record chase or at least settle for the draw. I am pretty sure that if Kallis and De Villiers can stay together till at least mid session after lunch, Australia would have to settle for a draw.
Extra Test, T20 added to India's tour of New Zealand.
India has added a T20 and an extra test game to their tour of NZ. Feb. 25 - Twenty20 International, Christchurch Feb. 27 - Twenty20 International, Wellington March 3 - 1st ODI, Napier March 6 - 2nd ODI, Wellington March 8 - 3rd ODI, Christchurch March 11 - 4th ODI, Hamilton March 14 - 5th ODI, Auckland March 18-22 First Test, Hamilton March 26-30 Second Test, Napier April 3-7 Third Test, Wellington
The Indian team will arrive in New Zealand on Feb. 10, eight days earlier than scheduled, with the first tour match being the extra Twenty20 game in Christchurch on Feb. 25.
I would say that this rescheduling has made the tour more interesting.
And here is the new schedule for the tour of NZ -
Gambhir given one match ban.
Gambhir has appealed against his ban recently. I feel that Sunil Gavaskar was right when he said that mostly sub-continent players are punished even if their counterparts equally deserve to be punished.
Now what would be interesting to see would be if Gambhir was successful in his appeal or not.
