although i wanted to be proved wrong but somehow i didn't see the fightback coming...when i saw so many peoples airing their optimism that we will go for win...manage at least draw...put up resounding fight to salvage some pride...and i was skeptic coz there were no grounds based on what i saw in first innings...and i was not wrong...
i pity kumble...i really feel for him...you wont see spinner taking five wickets on first day of test match against australia and that too on their soil...
for all the efforts he put up he deserved more...he deserved more from his batsmen who he thought were his master cards...his strength....but he was left to throw his hand in despair coz not a single batsmen looked to guts it out there...there was no one standing to be counted...to fight the 'demons in the pitch' which was more subcontinentish pitch...but as the match progressed we saw that demons were elsewhere...they were in minds...
don't look anywhere than dravid to understand the demons i am talking about...time has come for india to decide what to do of him...he is clearly struggling for his form...his approach...and more importantly his mental strength he was used to known for...will we keep on going for him in the faith that he is just an innings away from his previous best...but somehow i don't see it coming...in these days of back to back test matches...where is the time...but if i am kumble i would have one to one talk with him...this is the time when champion player like him need support.. i would make him feel wanted in current setup...i would not let him fade away in his wilderness so easily...i would give him at least another test...but with an ultimatum...
if a batsman who is stated to be 'in the form of his life' comes to crease like this...there was no body language...no air of confidence...and plays the way he played (and i am not even talking about his scores) it would be better he is confided to the comforts of dressing room...coz by sitting there he served india far better...all other guys were on their toes thinking that there's one sitting outside who can replace them...
it was only Ganguly (and to some extent sachin) who came unscathed and looked at par...special mention must be made to gangly who many thought (uncle included, who famously said that aussies will be having orgasmic pleasure by seeing him coming to bat) that he will be stream rolled by aussies etc etc...but he just refused to lie down...played his shots and remarkably rotated the strike which he is not known for...its not coincidence that only time india looked in control (batting wise) was when ganguly and sachin were batting together...
the fact that aussies hardly crossed 350 in both innings and yet they won by more than 300 runs speaks volume about the 'efforts' of our famed batting lineup...was that a pitch where our illustrious batting lineup could not score even 200 in both innings?? are we living in dreamland where our batsmen score far heavily than in reality...?? are we expecting too much from these lions-on-paper batsmen??? we must look within and search for the right answers...this was by far the worst performance we came up with in recent times...
we will have to find solutions and that too quickly...it would be very interesting couple of days in indian dressing room and specially for kumble of what he comes up with...to counter this 'freezing attitude' in our batting...next couple of days will give us an idea how kumble has taken this defeat and what combinations he would come up with...
coz another bad day in the office and we can safely say tata to this series...
i would go for full leather and would field
jaffer/dk
sehwag
laxman (coz he looked good for more, so no. 3)
sachin
gangly
Dravid (if he has to bat slow better be at this position but as i said with an ultimatum)
dhoni /(yuvraj in case DK gets opening slot)
zahir
rp
kumble
harbhajan (to share burden of kumble i wont place rookie here at this moment)
what will be your final xi...
cricket without balls
shared by straight point on Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wrong'ns
shared by straight point on Thursday, December 27, 2007
first of all let me say sorry for disappearing from scene...there were some urgent issue which kept me out of touch, forcefully, for few days...anyways....seasons greeting to all...
while i leave indepth analysis to more accomplished bloggers here are some wrong'ns from me...
time and again it is billed as our batting vs opposition bowling and considerable time and ink is spent on highlighting how bowling is our weak point and how our famed batting have to carry the burden of it...
if first two days of the test match anything to go by we must stop and ponder...are we putting too much faith on our batting...is our faith misplaced?? when we, literally with two bowlers, can restrict aussies to 9 wickets for around 300 in a day when other teams with much better and gifted bowling attack could not do so...and our batters with combined experience and pedigree could muster not even 200 on board...we must stop and ponder over it...
the way our 'great batters' gave advantage on platter gained by our 'weak bowling' almost saying sorry to aussies that they didn't meant to...is disgusting, inexplicable and pathetic...to say the least...how many wickets were taken by aussies?? where was the application needed??? where were batters when india needed them to guts it out in middle...???
we must sort out our batting order (in the second innings) and combination (for next match) quickly coz there's no one to hold on to in case of collapse like today...
this effort(??) has left india to the situation that now if we manage a draw from here will be nothing short of a miracle...its still early days yet but by the time test series will be over...some pretenders are definitely going to be sorted out there...
in know DK was not playing today but those who says so what he scored some half centuries in SA and ENG...should see dravid's innings today to know what those 'meaningless' half centuries meant to india...his innings was not going anywhere clearly indicating he was not enjoying or one must say willing to do the job he was doing over there...
one question which comes to my mind...if india have to gamble...than on which one we should gamble...
a reluctant genius or a willing mortal...??
a case for Dinesh Karthik...
shared by straight point on Saturday, December 15, 2007
i wanted to comment on this but my response got too much for space, so i have posted it out here...forgive me for wearing devil's advocate cap again ;-)
now look at what SAM says...
that it was DK's fifty who costed us victory in last test match...and he should be so ashamed that he should rule out himself of any future assignments with team india and better go to mollywood or bollywood... hummm....it got me thinking...
but, seriously even after thinking very long and hard i could not find a single reason...why DK should be ashamed of this...
he was not captaining india that day...so obviously it was not his decision to carry on batting...if kumble wanted that he wont bother for declaration and would go for full fifth day (we are not debating the rights or wrongs of declaration)...what DK, or for that matter any batsman, had anything to do with it...
you mean that he should have retired himself out from batting...put his hands up and said sorry captain i will not bat coz you are not declaring...common...SAM...would you have ashamed say SRT too if he was batting...??? he scored fifty coz he got the opportunity to play...as simple as that...
now other parts....why he is still in this team...i tried very hard to come up with reasons on this too...but could not come to term with it...that why he is in the team...then i found a way to crack this puzzle...for this we have to do it in reverse...like we used to do in school days to prove theorems...so lets start...why he is in team...
he must be a very BIG player...
seriously...why our captains (first dravid...then kumble), team managements and selectors can find a gut to drop out Ganguly's, Dravids...can keep sehwag out of team...can not find a place for YS in the team and yet we find DK in the team...coz he is as much a bigger player as cricket has seen...so he is untouchable...
he must be a HYPNOTIST
...he must have collectively brain washed everybody so much so that they can not see the obvious...
He has the backing of BIG CORPORATE HOUSES...
coz they have invested crores of rupees in him and if he is not selected in the team then they are going to loose BIG TIME...
he is the STAR...
people are falling over him like anything...they are queuing in daylight, sun blazing on their head...to see him play...he has cought the fancies of youngs and olds alike...has set up field blazing with his stroke play and all over world fans are going ga ga over him...
but on carefully examining all this i found that he is not a very big player...he is not a hypnotist either...yet to see a brand he endorses...and definitely not a star...so why he is in the team...
coz he is team man to the core...
coz he did the job in much tougher conditions when his more illustrious colleagues refused...inspite of never opening in his career...
coz he is the most shuffled batsman in recent time for india...you want him open...he is ready...you want lower down to finish match...he is ready...who will come at no. 3??? he will...he will keep wickets...he will open for you...he is one of the best close in fielder and also good in deep down there with his agility that despite all in his career he has been keeper...
he averages at least a fifty (till this series) per test match...against much tougher teams...when team required it most...and its not that he is on his way to the fag end of his career...he is only 22 something...you wont find many players for which Harsha commenting (on record i.e.) that indian cricket got to find a way for some space for him...(during SA and/or england series)
and has this to say about DK in his recent column
"Now, people feel the need to react similarly about another fine and gutsy player. Since he began opening the innings, Dinesh Kaarthick has hardly ever failed. For a man not yet 23, he has been shunted all over the order and in the field, has faced more uncertainty than a stockbroker and has inevitably responded with good cheer and great attitude. He is not prone to making wild statements and, let’s face it, is performing a role that more pedigreed players were not too keen on. Openers have to be persevered with, you don’t throw a fresh lot in everytime, and that means riding the trough from time to time."
and i believe he has seen enough cricket to know the traits of a player...
the way he adjusted to the late inswing of sidebottom after getting out cheaply in first innings of first test match speaks about temperament, cricketing brain and the character of the man...that he is prepared to fight it out...showed he is always thinking about his game...that he is continuously looking to improve his game...
his true value lies elsewhere...he is a player from rare genre now...he is a TEAM MAN...its only that we are used of seeing so many stars out there that we don't don't give enough credit to this value...
yes he has spilled some easiest catches...yes he has shown some antics when he could have done it more calmly without showing off...yes he should have scored more runs against this weaker attack...but who has not...i have seen more specialist fielders spill dollies...Sehwag don't have good record against bangladesh...even SRT did not had good record against Bangladesh for a while...are they bad players...and surely you cannot drop a player for that he is a showman...
if anything he will learn with time, as i said he is only 20 something, when to show exuberance when to conceal expressions...etc..etc...
but can't we allow even this much to a guy so young...?? is it so difficult for us that we cant see the obvious through our tinted glasses of personal hate???
disclaimer: this post is not to score some brownie points over my friend SAM...
random thoughts....
shared by straight point on Thursday, December 13, 2007
with so many nicely put round ups...nothing left to add anyway...so here are my doosras...
those who still feel that kumble was not aggressive in declaration should read very nicely argued posts of fellow blogger kartikeya's discussing declatations...and friend soulberry's hope and hopelessness needless to say i totally agree with them...
at the risk of repeating myself (i have already commented this) i would say that don't get carried away by pak's 'india gate' kind of batting...the way they were getting out...and please uneven bounce was nothing to do with their dismissals...with bats at least a foot away from the line of bowl...would have embarrassed even club cricketers...
that result was possible irrespective of declaration timing but coz another team was hell bent on committing mass suicide...and surprisingly no one has uttered a single word on how pak batsmen started unfolding...
......
everybody seems unanimous that the misbah was the find for pak in this series...while not taking away any credit from him...of how he batted and how he saved pak from precarious positions every time without fail...and people all over calling him another 'wall'...worthy replacement of 'ul-haq' etc etc...
i would wait for another series...just for the reason that in virtually every innings he gave clear and grabable chances to our fielders in very early stages of his innings and had we got some of them his averages (and dare say series result) could have been very different of what they are now...specially after not so good SA series...i know that its not the fault of misbah and he did not let these chances distract him and build upon that...but you can not expect other team to be so magnanimous in their approach...so lets wait for another series...
.......
i still don't know what harbhajan has done in this series to be on oz tour...i thought he has already seen sydney...isn't it??
.......
i should also give credit where its due...me included...some of us infact...no...many of us questioned the probables selection but it also takes courage to correct mistakes...they should be appreciated for that and by giving kumble more say at team selection coz ultimately he is the one who is gonna face the music... they deserve praise too...although i still feel that they are taking one too many rookie in bowling department...but who knows??? this pankaj singh could well turn out to be another ace in a pack of cards??
.......
theories were going on that dravid will be asked to open the innings to accommodate yuvraj...and going by some reports in media even team management started thinking in this line...and suddenly we (and yuvi) see sehwag coming in...by all probability he will play in boxing day coz you dont want to look fool by selecting him only to warm benches out there...
sehwags selection is 'googly' for everyone...without going into that this is another 'feather' in kumble's cap without even landing in oz...that what this selection means to sehwag coz he would be headless chicken if he doesn't know already...i would be interested in how yuvi see this selection...
Music to Ears...
shared by straight point on Monday, December 10, 2007
when i read this news in TOI about gary kirsten, particularly this highlighted portion:
Asked about what he can give to Indian cricket, the South African said "Having played the game at the highest level, I can add some value and my experience. There are experienced players in the team and together we can bring some very successful couple of years."
On what he would like to improve, he said "I think we need to talk about that behind closed doors. You know various strategies and hopefully you see results on the field but they are a special team and have some good performers.
its early days yet, but i think he will turn out more of backroom kinda guy...not media attention hugry like that certain darn guy, as soulberry would agree, who would have gone on and on what HE want to do, what will be HIS strategies and finally making dig at someone or other...
it also goes to show that if you are clear in what you will say and say it straight not even media can misquote you...that if you are prepared, confident about what you will be doing and how you will be doing...you dont have to shout from roof top to stuff theories in peoples head...coz the result will be there for all to see and it will give far more credibility to your profile...
as sidhu used to put it...
' you are not rewarded for aiming at target, you are rewarded for hitting the target'
Way to go Yuvi...
shared by straight point on Saturday, December 08, 2007
if anybody had any doubt about inclusion of yuvi in final eleven...he should have seen his innings today...(at the time of tea, while writing this)
coming at pressure cooker stage of 61/4 and considering he was coming after long exile...what an innings he has played...he did not allowed the situation to get to him...though, understandably, started bit shaky but once he got the measure of wicket and bowlers on view, run started to flow...suddenly same pitch which was holding demons in it started to look 'flat'...the same bowling started to look ordinary...mind you pitch is still playing game...the bounce is inconsistent but such was the impact of batting it all looked so easy...
ganguly too played his role of senior guy to perfection, easing out anxiety (if any) in yuvraj by guiding him through his experience...he also started to match the flow of runs and played with some conviction...easily his best outing in recent memory...
coming back to yuvi, he is the player from the genre who will not only give their team enough time by scoring quickly but would turn the game on his head...the sort of player people spend their hard earned money to see the game...coz they will not only survive out there but make opposition team pay double the price till they will spent the time at crease...
i would go on to say that we would have won had he played the kolkotta test...he was the 'time difference' between the draw and probable win...
now even if he gets out at this score, he has done enough to merit a place in the team...and if this means dravid will have to open innings so be it...it will be the price our 'past' will have to pay for our 'future'...
One Final Joke
shared by straight point on Thursday, December 06, 2007
was played by DBV and his team yesterday... i.e.
Presumably knowing that it might be the last selection meeting (for him and may be his team) they have chosen probables which shows that they were just going through motions, bereft of any vision and such...
DBV in not so distant past issued stern warning to some of seniors that there are some tiwaries, badrinaths etc were waiting in wings and yet we don't find any of them amongst probables...if they are not even in top 24 players then either they are not good or...
had they showed some vision they would have selected at least both if not more giving them confidence that they are looked upon as future of indian cricket. i would go on to say that select at least one of them for the tour...coz no other tour can make them understand how tough international cricket can be and whats more needed to be there at that level...but not...
virender sehwag's omission from the probable list is also a bankruptcy of thought...they have chosen to go on easy path of selecting players with high averages...coz please don't convince me that gambhir is better test match player than sehwag...
Its very easy going ga ga when players like sehwag are on the roll...but the true sense of how we nurture our proven match winners is the hallmark of the successful system...if he gets lost in this wilderness will be a classic example of how a system killed a career and a player...fans across the world queue up to make it to ground, glued to screen coz good couple of hours of them and you can see the game turning on its head...besides if ever he deserved some support it was at this time...a gentle pack on his back, a warm arm around his shoulder...would have made him feel wanted and important...
to tackle aussies at their home you need some out of box thinking, the guts to go for gamble and vision to look for future as well....i am utterly disappointed that these probables does not reflect any of these attributes which differentiate an ordinary to a visionary selector...
but as harsha says, that if only interesting part of selection meeting is whether COS will joining it or not than you should expect only this...
Collective Shame !!
shared by straight point on Wednesday, December 05, 2007
i read this report first thing in morning in TOI about modi owns up sohrab killing and felt like dirt that we are still letting these people go scot free with virtually anything...
its collective shame on all of us that we keep on electing these types of peoples to let rule on us...i am so pissed off that no words are coming in my mind...(to describe the shame i.e.)
Thanks Murli !!
shared by straight point on Tuesday, December 04, 2007
its no modesty but i sincerely believe that i am too small to write anything about Muril...
in any case there is not much left that can be said about Murli...
...some believe he is brodman of bowling..some spit venoms at the sight of him...never have been a player in the history of game who has invoked so contrasting observations, views...
some say the laws were bended to accommodate him...though many find no reason that murli has anything to do with it...some see it as the natural progression of laws to be more contemporary...though i must admit here that i am the one who thinks that laws are made to be changed with time...otherwise there wont be any meaning of that law which doesn't reflect the way society is behaving, living...
i read somewhere...
"Most people think that they are thinking when they actually are merely re-arranging their prejudices."
if only we can change our tinted specs for a while....
the picture will emerge of a man who inspite of facing criticism, calls of cheats, serious doubts about career...had the guts and stronger-than-steel mind to go there and do what he loves most...bowling to get batsmen out...on and on and on...who still hates when someone scores against him...even for a single...who single handedly have changed more matches than anybody in game...without getting the support his contemporaries enjoyed...
if for not for world record, we must salute the man for showing us, and the world, that how to fight demons and still come out on top...
i was seeing super slow mo other day and those eyes left me mesmerized...they were so focused...like arjuna who saw nothing but an eye of a bird...
thanks murli for showing us the class, the grit without necessarily indulging in sledging, on the face kind verbals or any antics which many believed and believes the way to go...
thanks... for telling us that one can still do things gentlemanly and quietly and yet being fiercely aggressive...i don't know about many but i feel privileged to have seen him bowling...feel proud for him and i don't feel ashamed of my confessions...
and i know i am not alone....
The 'Indian' Boost
shared by straight point on Monday, December 03, 2007
some batsmen look forward to i.e.
after another fighting innings from misbah and especially Kamran...i wondered how, we have a history of resurrecting so many careers that otherwise would not have enjoyed that much longer run than they did...
how there are some batsmen, when not in good form and career in shatters...they pray to god to please arrange a tour with india...
so many players come to my mind (mainly from pakistan though)....
Shivnaraine Chandrapaul (barring good outing lately in england tour, he would get the top cake amongst all other players for being the kind of batsman i am talking about)
Andy flower (the sight of him coming in mid of collapse and you know that now its going to be long before we get him out)
Izaz Ahmed (i am yet to recall him playing innings of substance elsewhere, of course india were exception)
Shahid Afridi (he has hurt india than any other country he has played against...had 'india' not happened to him, wonder where he would have been...)
Kamran Akmal (would have been a goner had this series not happened in time for him...)
Misbah? (q mark is bcoz, although its early days, but after SA series bad outings here would have been enough to put doubts in selectors mind that whether he is good 'test' match material)
Saeed Anwar (very fond of our bowling...if you wake him up midnight to play match against us would almost sleep walk through his innings)
Since i am not statistician type (to search for data) i leave it to you...how many batsmen you can add?
