Watching IPL Live @ KSCA, Bangalore

This post is a brief account of my experience as a spectator in the IPL match between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils held on 19th May 2008 at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. Background: I had never been to any cricket stadium to watch a live match. But Sandeep’s josh transformed me to go for one, that too for the wholesome entertaining IPL match(not exciting enough though, as our home team Bangalore Royal Challengers was on a loosing streak). But the tickets had been booked by Sandeep long back when he was on a business trip to Paris and when in Bangalore you have no choice but to go for the match in which one of the teams is always Bangalore and you may expect less fireworks from them. Sandeep had bought 2 tickets for the Bangalore v/s Delhi match on May 19th but his colleagues had also booked ticket for him for the same match. Now, he had an extra ticket. He asked me whether any of my friends were interested to join. That’s when I called Deviprasad, a cricket freak. He instantly accepted the invitation and we had a big team now around 10 people to watch the match. But it was only when Sandeep saw the tickets booked by his colleagues, he realized that our stands were different. So, I and Devi headed for our stand which was McDowells Best View(Stand A).
Initial Proceedings: I had left office early to reach Chinnaswamy stadium as you never know with Bangalore traffic. Though Devi had told he would be around 6 PM and me much earlier, he was the first to reach the place. With rain pouring heavily and Sandeep and friends still on their way, we decided to go inside the stadium. I was skeptical whether we would have a game at all with all those rains and if it all it stopped raining whether we will have a full match. Routine security checks were in place and one of the security personnel wondered about the rechargeable batteries I had carried in my bag. I told it was for the camera and he seemed convinced. Well, we were now inside the stadium with early birds already occupying strategic positions i.e seats!

Shaan Performing at KSCA

Shaan Show and the Laser Show: Fortunately, rain had stopped around 6 and that was precisely the time when Bollywood singing sensation Shaan’s programme will start. Shankar Prasad, well known face of the Bengaluru Doordarshana Kendra was the host of the show. He began with his impeccable voice addressing the crowd both in English and Kannada, “Ladies and gentlemen”, “Mahileyere mattu Mahaneeyare” respectively and told Shaan will be entertaining us with bollywood numbers and some Kannada songs too. Shaan dressed in white coat and white pants entered the stage SRK style (Don theme), with the thunderous applause and began his bollywood numbers with ‘Mai Hun Don’. ‘Chand Sifarish’, ‘Do you want a partner’, ‘Jab se tera naina’, ‘Dekho Dekho Kya Yeh Pedh hai’ followed. He also sang one Kannada song – ‘Eno Onthara Ee Preethiyu Ee Reethiyu Shuruvaada Aa Nanthara’ from ‘Hudugaata’. He ended his show with his ever green album melody ‘Tanha Dil’ wishing the home team all the best, telling repeatedly that he would be lucky for the team but that was not to be. After Shaan’s show, Laser Show followed. Lasers with background score filled the entire stadium with exclamations from the audience. It was really awesome; have look at the videos below.

Laser Show

Toss and the Star Entry: Stadium does look big when you watch in TV but when you were in middle of the action here, it seems a small place and Devi had the prospects of hitting sixes off any bowler, given a chance comparing the ground to the one he played in his school days in Hebri! We really missed the binoculars as without them you would be waiting for the giant screen replays to watch what exactly happened in the previous delivery. Well at around 7 30, Sunil Gavaskar made his entry to the ground with 2 captains – Dravid and Sehwag. Sehwag called it right. When asked about the match Dravid fancied his team’s chances of spoiling somebody’s party as his team was almost out of the tournament. Soon after the toss was over and match was about to begin, Kannada actors Upendra and Ramya were up on stage. Ramya began with her somewhat foreign accent Kannada saying ‘Namaskaara Bengaluru ‘ and Upendra greeting which he followed up with his own style dialogue ‘Fouru Sixu Ok, Kuttodu Yaake!’ indicating how Bangalore team was adapted to defending while batting rather than hit the ball t20 style and then they jogged around the ground saying ‘Cheers to Live’, making the crowd stand up and take notice of their presence.

Cheerleaders: Toss time also marked the entry of much debated cheerleaders to the stadium. They first performed in the middle of the ground, then jogging round the ground cheering the audience and finally to settle down at the 3 podiums destined for them. Needless to say all these events were received with high volume cheers for the crowd gathered. Cameras clicked, videos shot and the attention turned to one side of the ground. Cheerleaders used to dance for English, Hindi, Kannada songs whenever the home team hit 4’s and 6’s or took wickets. But they were left with plenty of spare time without work as the home team hit boundaries in patches and took only half of the Delhi team out.

Match and the Audience: Not terribly disappointed by the home team’s performances in earlier games, crowd cheered the team to lift their game up. Posters, Banners filled the crowd space but only that cameramen were not interested in any of these. Posters created by me like – ‘Put the Bang back ‘Bang’alore’, ‘Dravid V R With U’, ‘Don’t Mis-bah-L’, ‘Go 4 Hit Swamy’(for Srivatsa Goswamy, the debutant), ‘White Wash Delhi’(for Cameroon White) remained visible to the minority of McDowells’ Best View(Stand A) people! Also, these posters were of not much use after some time as Dravid, Goswamy, White were on their way to pavilion after I prepared these posters, with the exception of Mis-bah and Goswamy(who had a good outing on that day). Well, cameraman was more interested and focused on the airhostesses who had landed upon the KSCA ground on that day!

The Live Action: There are no live commentaries in the stadium; how can it be, with the audience noise level crossing several decibels. 2 giant screens provided us the status of the match as we were interested in the stats occasionally. But the lack of hard hitters in Dravid’s team made the match less T20. Misbah’s last over fireworks to produce 24 runs was a treat to watch. Anyway, crowd enthusiasm made up for this and evey four and six was cheered whole heartedly by the audience and being among this bunch gives yourself a different kind of experience altogether.

Kumble In Action

Like waiting for the third umpires decision and after his verdict the cheer; you have to be in the crowd to experience that. Well, nowadays they don’t show action replays to get our own versions of verdicts, thus avoiding controversies. First half of the match was Ok. Though Bangalore kept loosing wickets, 19 year old wicket keeper Srivatsa Goswamy provided complete entertainment, who finally perished trying to go over the top. But then Misbah was there to play his best IPL innings so far. On the way he also did a Inzamam-ul-Haq when he got involved in 2 of the runouts. 2nd part of the match was interesting only to the Delhi crowd as Sehwag and Gambhir hit boundaries after boundaries most of the times never bothering to run. But then Delhi also had their anxious moments; once the openers were out they lost 3 quick wickets courtesy Kumble and Steyn making the crowd interested in the match. But soon enthusiasm died as Delhi roped home comfortably winning the match by 5 wickets. In the meantime in the 2nd half, when match was dull, somebody from the crowd in McDowells Best View(Stand C), the stand where Sandeep was seated, started dancing and all the attention turned there! After the match was over, we did not wait for the presentation ceremony to get over and were on our way back home at around 11 30 PM, discussing had it not been a huge first wicket partnership for Delhi, we would have possibly won it!

Regards
Raveesh

India : Do(w)n Under

Ponting’s words indeed came true. Third final wont be required. And needless to say that Indians have won the first two! Well, that was the perfect match for the 2nd final. A competitive score and a team which will fight till the end. Though Sachin missed his century, his score, 9 short of what would have been his 43rd ODI century, won the match for us.

If the first match tested India’s ability to handle pressure this was no different. Once again, Robin Uthappa and Sachin Tendulkar provided the right but cautious start and this time it was bigger. Yuvaraj Singh’s 38(38) which included 2 big sixes and Dhoni’s 36(37) paved way for a bigger total. But that was not to be once Tendulkar got out. When even 300 looked certain, now with Sachin back in pavilion India made a competitive score of 258. In a big game, even a small total can look as daunting task and this was far better.

When the Australian chase began, India’s new found bowling hero, Praveen Kumar,did most of the damage taking 3 wickets in quick succession. Adam Gilchrist’s farewell looked dull as he was out for 2 but that has been the case with most of the great players playing their last match. Though Hayden and Symonds try to do the repair work as in the previous match it did not last long. Divine justice was again there with Harbhajan getting out both of them much similar to the 1st final of the CB Series. Once Hussey and Hopes started building a partnership, pendulum swung Australia’s way and there was some hope for the Aussies. But with Hussey’s dismissal victory for India was more probable. But Aussies ‘never say die’ spirit came into fore with Hopes leading the way. But in the end, India who deserved to be winners came victorious. Kudos India!

Last year it was England and this year it is India who outplayed Australians in the CB series final. Prolonged dominance of world cricket by a single team was not good for the game and now with India emerging as the most likely team to replace them comes as a good sign. With this loss, Australians have lost 3 matches in a row. Well, that is something unusual for a team like Australia. This win would go as one of the finest victories by India in cricketing history.

Amazing season this has been for Indian cricket. We won the T20 World Championship in South Africa when nobody gave us a chance. On Sunday, we also won the U19 Cricket world cup signaling the new era in Indian cricket. And now CB series championship. I was wondering we won 2 of the tough tournaments without a formal coach. Do we really require a coach now??

Regards,
Raveesh

Picture Source : Indian Team, Harbhajan Singh [www.cricinfo.com]

One More To Go...

Exemplary Performance! And that too against the best team in the world. Seeing Sachin and Rohit bat in tandem knocking of those 240 runs was really a treat to watch on a Sunday afternoon. Sachin whose 42nd century was long due, came at the right time and as they say victories weigh more than individual glories. This was reiterated by Tendulkar when Gautam Bhimani asked about the latest century, holding a banner which said 'SCG - Sachin Cricket Ground!' Well, this was Sachin's first century against the Aussies in Australia and to get it in a tri-series final makes it more special.

It was one of those rare occasions when India did not buckle under pressure. At one stage, they were 87 for 3. Not a good sign for a team chasing a target. But then India had found their new saviour in Mumbai lad, Rohit Sharma. Words of encouragement by the senior pro at the other end, was reflected in the shots he played. The making of Rohit, the team man was on during the T20 world cup in South Africa. In a league match against South Africa, he had scored 50(52) after India was down 63-4. Then, he had his good moments in the final against Pakistan too, when he smashed 30(22), score next only to Gambhir's 75(76). He also showed his skills in India's only win against Australia in the CB series league matches. Sachin, no words can rightly describe his skills and stature. When everything looked gloomy and criticisms started pouring in from all corners, this man showed his class. Once a master, always a master! Way to go Sachin!

With the Indian pace battery working consistently nowadays, Indian spinners performance get unnoticed sometimes and this match was no exception. Dhoni did not forget to mention this point during the presentation ceremony. Move by Dhoni to bring in Piyush Chawla for this match, paid rich dividends when he finished his spell, 10-0-33-0, which is pretty good against the Australians. Even Harbhajan did his job well with his spell reading 10-0-38-2, taking all important wickets of Hayden and Symonds. War of words off the field would have found some winner today in the field.

But I had my own doubts on whether Indians would finally make it, as the Australian fielding was top class. In the initial stages of the Indian innings they saved at least 20-25 runs. Even after that, they were brilliant in field. But the result was never going to be their way, when master himself was at the crease. In the latter part of the innings, Indians taught Australians their own lessons of converting 1's into 2's and dot balls into 1's. Earlier, in the slog overs of Australian Innings, tail enders largely used this trick of converting dot balls to 1's.

Thats not all. We have just won first of the best of three finals. Indians now have their task cut out. Win the next match and take the trophy home, like the way England did it in 2006/07. Sachin said the same, when an Australian fan asked about the prospects of a third final. But Indians also have their worries for the next match, like Ishant Sharma getting his middle finger injured after an impressive spell, 8-0-32-1. If you were wondering why Irfan Pathan was given the ball in the last few overs of the Australian Innings even after going for runs in his earlier overs, it was precisely for this reason.

Regards,
Raveesh

Picture Courtesy : Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma [www.cricinfo.com]

Australia c Kumble b India 16(5)

NO17 is LION if turned upside down. It seems Australia can not strike it and turn it upside down and be the King in the jungle of cricket. Invincible, as they were called twice in the last decade for their spectacular streak of 16 test wins has now become a thing of the past. It is the Indian cricket team again which halted the Aussie juggernaut yet again in 2008, first being in Kolkota, 2001.

India Wins [Picture Courtesy : http://www.cricinfo.com/]

The unsung hero of Indian cricket, Anil Kumble proved his mettle yet again now on a different pitch with his captaincy. Engineer from Bangalore deserves appreciation and applause for lifting up the team from Sydney turmoil a week ago and making the right moves by bringing in Sehwag and Pathan. This combination of a batsman who can bowl and bowler who can bat turned into a pair of all-rounders and swung the match in India’s favour.

Interesting Highlights of the 3rd test at Perth

• Batsmen dismissed by same bowler in both innings – Australian openers Rogers and Jaques by Irfan Pathan, Australian skipper(and Harbhajan’s bunny) Ricky Ponting by Ishanth Sharma, Andrew Symonds by Anil Kumble, Mike Hussey by RP Singh.
• Wickets to all from India - All bowlers from India in both innings got wickets – Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, Ishanth Sharma, Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag(bowled only in the second innings)
• Test over in 4 days - A team beating Australia in a test within 4 days, which usually happens other way round.
• Indian Tail wagging 30% – both innings put together last 4 wickets producing 180 out of 624 total runs scored, making it close to 30%.
• Dhoni factor – Dhoni was involved 8 dismissals out of 20 to win the test (5 catches in Ist innings and 2 catches, 1 stumping in 2nd innings)
• Relatively Safe Hands – India held 14 catches in total to affect as many number of dismissals, with less dropped catches,one famous being off Symonds by Sachin.

Kumble on Top:
I have been a big fan of present Indian skipper, Anil Kumble, right from the days of Hero Cup in 1993 where he displayed magnificent spell of bowling on the final of Hero Cup on 27 November 1993 to record a famous win against the West Indies. Till this day, 6/12 remains Kumble’s best figure in ODIs. His figures on that day read : 6.1-2-12-6 with 5 victims getting bowled!!!

Kumble leading from the front[Picture Courtesy: http://www.cricinfo.com/]

In the dusk of his 17 year old cricketing career he has achieved another feat by becoming only the 3rd bowler in the history of cricket to take 600 wickets in tests. But he has been far away from controversies the other two had been involved with, whether on or off field. I always wondered why he was not given captaincy after Azharuddin left the spot. In fact he was the vice captain when Azhar was skipper. For the true ambassadors of the game like Kumble these issues really don’t matter. He was always a captain in the waiting. This has been proven yet again after this victory. His dedication, temparent, accuracy, team spirit should serve as good examples for many generations to come.

Its INDIA Once Again

It was a wonderful Saturday evening. Most of the Indians after performing ‘Ayudha Pooja’ were in for a cracker of a contest. India had to prove a point to all those critics who had opinioned their world twenty20 title was a fluke. And they had done it in emphatic style, by winning the only twenty20 match in Mumbai comfortably by 7 wickets. To finish off it in style, winning shot was huge six, off the bat of captain Mr. Cool, M S Dhoni.

Whatever Bret Lee or Pointing had to say in their columns that the contest was not perceived as revenge game by them to their world cup semi final loss to India, it was hardly believable. It is a well known fact that, as such Australians never want to loose and if they get defeated they bounce back to avenge their loss. This indication came long before, when the tour started by Ricky Ponting’s press conferences. Verbal war was on even before the first match was played, and continued match after match. But one can safely say that this was the match when both teams made their bat talk rather than mouth. Series full of verbal duels ended in a match which hardly had one. Welcome change! Anyway it was a wonderful match, a treat to watch.

picture courtesy: cricinfo.com

Aussies winning the toss and electing to bat would have hardly surprised any, since they wanted to capitalize on India’s discomfort in chasing totals in the recently concluded one day series. Also India’s wins in world twenty20 came when they were batting first. But though they lost the match to New Zealand by mere 10 runs in world twenty20 super eight stage, they had started off well in that match with Sehwag and Gambhir providing the perfect start but rest managing to mess up things a bit in the end. And when Gilchrist hit those 3 fours off RP Singh off the first over in this match, it seemed that it was a wise decision to bat on. But RP Singh disturbing the timber the very next ball and sending Australian wicket keeper packing, was huge moment for India. Though the Pointing continued to hit boundaries and Hayden supporting at the other end, Aussies were on for a big total. But with Harbhajan providing that crucial wicket of Hayden slowed down things a bit and with Murali Karthik tightening the screws at the other end kept the run flow in check. Symonds getting run out was only because of the presence of mind shown by Harbhajan; he had earlier missed the catch given by Australian skipper and then he was shying at the stumps when he spotted Symonds away from his crease. But with Ricky Ponting hitting useful runs in the end Australia were still in search of that huge total to upset the Indians. 18^th over bowled by Sreesanth was a bit expensive and resulted in 22 runs. But India put right breaks to restrict Australians to manageable 166, as they say a total below 200 in twenty20 is achievable.

picture courtesy: cricinfo.com

Indian chase was full of fireworks from the beginning. Gambhir has shown once again why he was the man of the match in World twenty20 final with variety of shots here. Though Sehwag departed with mere 20 runs on the board Uthappa joined Gambhir to build a fantastic partnership of over 80 runs. Fearlessness was the key here too as was the case in world twenty20 championship. With both batsmen stepping out for pacers runs were there to come at faster pace. This relieved the run chase pressure. But on the contrary, pressure was evident on Australians with Australian bowlers bowling no balls and providing India with free hits. Frustration crept in when overthrows by Aussies fielders too resulted in boundaries. Gambhir and Uthappa had half done their job with score board showing 101 off 10 runs. Though Uthappa perished to Clarke trying to cut him and edging, it was next to impossible for India to loose this match from that comfortable position. Ponting would have missed the trick by not playing Brad Hogg and in-form Johnson who took 14 wickets in 7 match ODI series. With Uthappa departing Yuvraj joined the party to hit those 3 huge sixes to reiterate the fact that he is the most dangerous batsman in twenty20 international as of now. Gambhir perished after adding over 40 runs with Yuvraj, making way for his skipper to finish the proceedings and rightly so India won the match in style with 11 balls to spare. Now nobody should have any doubt in their mind that India are the world champions in this format and remain so for some more time to come.

As Dhoni said in the presentation ceremony enjoying the game was the key and you will be performing better if you enjoy what you do and this applies to every field in life. Smiles were back on the Indian supporters after loosing the ODI series 2-4 to Australia. With this win India has consecutively won 5 matches in twenty20, more can be expected from them in the near future. Australians must be ruing themselves with them loosing last 2 matches of the tour. Meanwhile Indians would be happy to see this development as welcome signs for the upcoming Pakistan’s tour of India. All the best, INDIA!

Regards,
Raveesh

Back to Old Ways

It is hardly a month ago Indian cricket team was crowned world Twenty20 champions in South Africa and all the eyes were on the upcoming India Australia series which promised to be exciting with one world champion taking on the another. And now all is over for Indian cricket team as far as the series is concerned with already the series lost 4-1, the sole match remaining to be played for PRIDE(as they say on most occasions when the series is lost and a sole match is to be played).

But the manner in which the 6^th ODI is lost is worth pondering. With a first wicket stand of 140 between Sachin and Sourav, one would have hardly imagined an Indian loss. The match seemed to be going the same way it had gone in the 6^th ODI in England earlier this year. But the difference was that there the opponent was England and here, Australia. Uthappa’s heroics in England won us the match on that day. But against Australia, Dhoni and Uthappa both felling in the penultimate over cost us the match and of course, the series. Back to the old loosing ways, while chasing a target. But Indian cricketers have themselves to blame for chasing a big target set by the Aussies.With Australia loosing their top 4 batsmen inside 22 overs, India did not go for the kill. And the batting order set by Dhoni in the second half seemed hardly convincing. I had my reservations against sending Irfan Pathan at no.3, but then that ploy worked. But not the Dravid one, sending him at No.4 when you had Uthappa or Dhoni himself to play those big shots so that pressure does not build in the final overs. You have 200 runs on the board in 35 overs and require 117 from 15 overs and now why you are playing defensively? The justification from Dhoni after the match for sending Dravid at no.4 is baffling. He said Dravid was originally padded to come at No.3!!

picture courtesy : cricinfo.com

Indian batting, fielding and bowling were awful in this series excluding couple of matches. If Indian team’s pride has to be restored that has to be by winning the next ODI at Mumbai on Wednesday, Oct 17. And do not forget there is a Twenty20 international coming up, again in Mumbai on Saturday, Oct 20. Australians will be definitely coming hard at Indians for the defeat against them in semifinals last month. But Indians have to prove themselves as the world champions in shortest form of cricket by winning this only TTI.

Mission Accomplished

He came, he led, and he conquered. Mahendra Singh Dhoni did in 2007 what Kapil Dev did to Indian Cricket in 1983. No expectations and team performed well to reach the pinnacle of excellence. Yes, we have won the inaugural edition of twenty20 world cup. Hurray, what a nail biting final that had been. Beating arch-rivals Pakistan and lifting the world cup. Truly, this is a dream come true. That has certainly done some healing to the wounds of the Caribbean debacle earlier this year.

pictury courtesy : cricinfo.com

Frankly speaking, I did not expect so much attention would be diverted for this shortest version of cricket at the start of this tournament. That may be largely attributed to the fact that India had played only one Twenty20 international before the start of this world cup, though the first Twenty20 international had been played in 2005.(1^st twenty20 international was played between Australia and New Zealand on 17 February 2005, with Australia winning the match by 44 runs). India’s only match was with South Africa on 1^st December 2006 which they won by 6 wickets. Low on experience but high on confidence India under a young captain had arrived on the big stage in South Africa after a closely fought one day series in England.

The first match with Scotland being washed out and teams sharing a point each, it was left to the young brigade to perform well in next clash with Pakistan. 142 the target they set for Pakistan though was not intimidating, but Pakistan had to sweat for their runs with Indians making target stiffer ball after ball. With the match tied the first ever bowl out in a world cup came into picture. India won the bowl-out and advanced to next stage – Super Eight! For the curious folks the first ever bowl out in a Twenty20 International was between New Zealand and West Indies on 16 February 2006 with both teams tied at the score of 126. New Zealand eventually won the match 3-0 just as India did against Pakistan.

The first match for India in Super Eight saw them loosing to New Zealand from a position of strength with fireworks from Sehwag and Gambhir, by 10 runs. But that match also saw them giving too many runs in the end overs and loosing too many wickets in a hurry. That should have taught a thing or two about the winning ways in the coming games. As a result we were about to see new Indian team with disciplined bowling and sharp fielding. Incidently this was the only match where they chasing a target.

Then, came the 2 big games, one against the England, the so called Twenty20 specialists and another against the mighty South Africans and both had to be won comfortably if India had to be in the Semi finals. If the match against England saw the batting prowess then against South Africans it was the bowling and fielding which stood out. Yuvraj Singh’s magnificent 6 sixes in an over off Stuart Broad in the match against England will be in memory for the cricket fans for a long time. Well, this is only the third instance of such feat in an international match. South Africans did everything right to restrict India without Yuvraj to a manageable 153. But to their surprise they were then facing dilemma of whether to win the match or to get those crucial 126 runs needed qualify for the semis. In the end they could not manage either of them. India found a unlikely hero in otherwise wayward RP Singh who took 4 for 13, equally supported by S Sreesanth (2 for 23) and Harbhajan Singh (2 for 31). But that match also saw some brilliant fielding. Karthik’s catch of Graeme Smith and Rohit Sharma’s accurated throw to get rid of dangerous Justin Kemp saw match swinging in India’s favour. Robin Singh, the fielding coach would have been a proud man seeing the athletics of his boys.

Stage had finally set up for the Dhoni’s boys to take on the mighty Australians. The match saw them putting a good total of 188 with many of Australian bowlers going for runs rather than wickets, which is a hall mark of Australian bowlers. Australian backlash was expected as was seen in the way Hayden and Symonds batted. When it seemed match was going away from the Indians, Dhoni made the right move by bringing in Sreesanth who had given away just 6 runs in his first 3 overs and got the prized wicket of Gilchrist. This was gamble since Dhoni had to fill in that one over which otherwise would have been bowled by Sreesanth in the end. But then the pace with which Hayden was going it seemed match would be over with 2 overs left! And the ploy worked Sreesanth who had troubled Hayden at the start of the inning had his man. And then followed the procession of Australian middle order which would have been otherwise a Indian scene in most occasions. The untested middle order helped India to some extent to win that match. But then even in the last over match could have swung Australian way. But that was not to be. Joginder Sharma who had gone for plenty of runs in his first 2 overs had done trick for India. Hurray! We are in finals. Interestingly, India had played their matches against England, South Africa and Australia at Durban and won all of them.

picture courtesy : cricinfo.com

Final as expected by everyone was closely fought match. 157 though seemed to be a low total considering the runs scored by India against Australians in the match before. But then Pakistan bowling was exceptional. Most of the balls were yorkers and unplayable. Law of averages did Yuvraj Singh in and he could not repeat the heroics against England and Australia. It was a wise move by Pakistani Captain, Shoaib Malik to bowl spin at both ends when Yuvraj was at crease and that was a deciding factor in India not piling up a huge total. Having said that Gautam Gambhir got his timing correct to score a brisk 75 off 54 balls and Rohit Sharma’s hard hitting in the end helped India to cross that psychological barrier of 150. And then the hunt began. Undeterred by the 2 wickets fallen initially, Imran Nazir was going great guns only to be stopped by Robin Uthappa. This was clearly the turning point in the match. Add to that the first ball dismissal of Shahid Afridi made things easier for India. Indians had done their home work well. But in twenty20 cricket you never know one over could change the course of the game. That was exactly what happened when Harbhajan was hit thrice over the fence by the in-form Misbah-ul-Haq. If few runs had to be scored for Pakistan victory then few had wickets had to be taken for Indian victory. Those last three overs, man; you could hear your heart beating loud and clear. Not to explain those last 15 deliveries, which made our emotions happy and sad, change every moment? That fateful scoop by Misbah-ul-Haq off Joginder Sharma landing in the safe hands of Sreesanth saw India lifting the world cup after 24 years.

This has been my dream to see India win the world cup in our time. That did not materialize in 1996 or in 2003 when we came so close to winning one. This is very special seeing the people marching along the streets holding the Indian flag hailing the Indian win after the end of the match. Indian team holding the world cup, Irfan and Harbhajan’s dance, hugs all around make some of the unforgettable moments for a many years to come.

As Dhoni mentioned in his post-match presentation this win will herald new dawn in Indian cricket. And we will see a Twenty20 revolution in our country. This win has been collective effort with each match seeing a new hero. Young India has finally arrived. Now it is up to the managers of this game in India to make the best use of this young bunch and form a consistently performing Indian Cricket Team.

Get Set for the BIG Final

Biggest final of cricket tournaments in recent times is finally here. It can’t be better than this. We have reached the final phase of the inaugural edition of ICC Twenty Twenty cricket world cup. India v/s Pakistan tie on Monday, 24^th of September 2007 is being eagerly awaited by the cricket fans all over the world.

India came into this tournament as the youngest team with not much experience in the ODIs or in the twenty twenty international (TTI). And there were not many expectations from them. But they have performed amazingly well beating the likes of South Africa and Australia. Pakistan with its share of controversies till the beginning of the tournament too was in a similar position as India. But they have also managed to beat top teams like Australia and Sri Lanka.

Manner in which the two teams have progressed in the tournament is worth noting. India v/s Pakistan clash in the league stage was the first real test of nerves for these two teams. It resulted in a tie and then India won the bowl out 3-0. First super 8 match for India was against New Zealand and when every thing seemed correct to setup an Indian win, kiwis put on the breaks on the Indian juggernaut to win the match by 10 runs. But then those 2 spectacular performances set the tone for the Indian juggernaut to role on. India won against England mostly on the batting prowess riding on the 12 ball fifty by Yuvraj Singh. And against South Africa it was bowling and fielding which made their mark. South Africans who did not loose a game till then in the tournament choked to pressure and bowed out of the tournament. Semi final against Australia saw best of all three – batting, bowling and fielding which was on display in the previous two matches. If in batting Yuvraj Singh repeated his heroics against England then in bowling RP Singh against South Africa was replaced by Sreesanth. Pakistan on the other hand won two crucial matches, one against Sri Lanka, who were riding high on the batting exploits of Jayasurya on most occasions and another against the biggies Australia. Beating Bangladesh in the last super 8 tie was just a formality. New Zealand and Pakistan have been semifinal buddies on couple occasions now. I remember the same fate New Zealand suffered in the 1999 cricket world cup semi final in England against the same team.

Two exciting finals featuring India and Pakistan are,

• 1986 Astralasia Cup final at Sharjah - This match was won by Pakistan courtesy Javed Miandad hitting last ball of the innings off Chetan Sharma for a six. This is still fresh in the minds of cricket buffs.

• 1998 Bangladesh Independence Cup at Dhaka - Here in the best of the three finals India won the first one, Pakistan the second and India won the third final chasing record total 314 thus winning the cup 2-1, thanks to Hrishikesh Kanitkar for hitting that crucial boundary.

Thus the Monday match going to be an exciting contest typical of India Pakistan contests. This final match has an unusual trend of Australia not playing. In recent times virtually every final of the tournament Australia played had their name in final game but not here. Welcome change!

Coming to Twenty twenty cricket, purists may rub it off as base ball version of cricket, but honestly this has renewed interest among cricket enthusiasts who are otherwise tired of the laborious tests and one-sided ODI encounters. And this has even found new fan base. Main factor here is the time constraint. Match getting over within 3 hours. Well, that is duration you would watch a Hindi or any regional language movie in India. If the match goes well it is similar to watching good movie otherwise it is not a movie worth watching! With world being so competitive and in fast lane, cricket can not be left behind. Twenty twenty cricket can be seen as logical extension of ODI format. And in the long run this is definitely going to replace ODIs. Forget tests, who would want to waste his whole day just to decide who the winner is. Some say the climax of one day matches are rare to see here but we have seen some of the best moments in India v/s Pakistan, India v/s New Zealand, England v/s New Zealand, India v/s Australia to name a few in this tournament already.

India v/s Australia saw the best of both teams but in the end India won the battle of nerves. This is rare to see, Australia buckling under pressure. This might well set the tone for the upcoming ODI series against them in India, first one being held on 29^th September, 2007 in Bangalore. Australia saw their first upset against Zimbabwe in league and then against Pakistan. But then Aussies have come out from dearth of situations but this time Indians took the better of them.

Predicting the winner in a final has always been difficult. For me Indians start as favorites simply for the intensity with which they played the last three games against England, South Africa and Australia. Pakistan’s win against Bangladesh was unconvincing and the semi final against New Zealand was a cake walk. But still final matches bring out the best in teams (since Australia is not playing!!) so you never know who the ultimate winner is.

Regards
Raveesh

Third in the List

Monty Panesar lbw b Kumble 9 (42)
Yet again it was an LBW, which got him the honor of being the third highest wicket taker in test cricket. My previous post on Kumble had mentioned that presently he is the highest wicket taker in the form of LBWs in tests. Now the top 3 places in all-time highest wicket takers list is occupied by spinners: Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Anil Kumble. Now Kumble has 564 wickets from 117 tests in his kitty. With the last day of the third test between India and England remaining, opportunity is waiting for him to swell this collection by another 5-6 wickets, there by enabling India to win the series 2-0 against England. It has been a amazing turn around in terms of records of taking most wickets in test cricket. Previously it was all dominated by speedsters like Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev, Courtney Walsh. But now all the three places are with spinners

Talking of Anil, it was not only with the ball he had contributed to the game in this match, but with bat too. It was heartening to see Anil Kumble score his maiden hundred in this test match. He had four fifties to his credit earlier. On couple of occasions he had come close to scoring a hundred. First time it was against the South Africans (88) and then, against the Lankans (75). But somehow the three figure mark had eluded him for a long time. This also earned him the dubious distinction of being the cricketer to take most matches(117) to score his first hundred. Previously this record was held by Chaminda Vass. Interesting to see that none of the recognized batsmen scored a hundred in this test match, though three of them came close to do that – Dinesh Karthik(91), Sachin Tendulkar(82), M S Dhoni(92). Dhoni’s dhamaka was a treat to watch on Friday. It made clear that why he was made the 20-20 Indian team’s world cup captain. It would be great to see all the hard hitters in world cricket battle out in the 20-20 version of the game in South Africa.

Its still a mystery why Dravid chose to bat again when he could have enforced follow on the hapless English. A lead over 300 runs was enough to make the opposition follow on. But now with 52/0 on the board and only 3 sessions left in the last day it would be interesting to see how the Dravid marshals his resources to widen the series victory margin. England need another 444 runs with a minimum of 90 overs with the run rate touching 5 runs per over. England win is a very distant possibility but an Indian win can not be ruled out. Hope to see some good cricket on the last day at Oval.

Regards
Raveesh

One More Feather To His Cap

Score board read

Paul Collingwood lbw b Kumble 0(3)

in India vs England, Ist Test Lord’s, London. With that Anil Kumble became the highest wicket taker in the form of LBWs in tests. That speaks volumes for the accurate bowling of the Mechanical Engineering graduate from RV College of Engineering, Bangalore. Previously he was tied with Australian leggie, Shane Warne with 138 wickets for the highest LBWs in Tests.

With 2 wickets on the first day of the first test against he now stands with a tally of 554 wickets in 116 tests. He is fourth among the all time highest wicket takers in tests behind Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Glenn McGrath. The present standings of these bowlers in tests is as follows

Shane Warne – 708 wickets off 145 tests
Muttiah Muralitharan – 700 wickets off 113 tests
Glenn McGrath – 563 wickets off 123 tests

One record Kumble would be eyeing will be surpassing Glenn McGrath’s tally of 563 wickets. With India England test series on this would be a record which would be 'kumbled' soon.

Lets wish all the best for this man to set up another record in the near future

Regards
Raveesh

After all it's a BATSMAN’s game

One more jolt to the bowler. Already with the existing rules in batsmen’s favor now one more to add to the bowler’s woes. It’s called the ‘free hit rule’. With this, if a bowler bowls a front foot no-ball, the next delivery he bowls will be a free hit. That is batsman cannot be dismissed in that delivery. Of course, he can be run out. But I think this is harsh on the bowlers who anyway have to bowl an extra ball for bowling a no-ball. But that is the case with wides too.

With this new rule suppose a bowler bowls 2 consecutive no-balls as is the case with most sub-continent bowlers then he is penalized to bowl 2 free-hit balls. So a batsman effectively gets 4 free-hit balls in that over, with already if it is a no-ball batsman can not be dismissed in that delivery. Also the umpires shout loudly for the batsman to know that it is a no-ball so that the batsman can go for a big shot. With this new rule if the above situation occurs, batsman can go for 4 big shots which was earlier 2 if that was the case. This may sometimes change the course of the match. Imagine the plight of the bowler who bowls no-balls in the final over of the deciding match.

Looking at the positives, this rule may make the bowler to become more disciplined in their bowling. But a still long way to go for the bowlers from sub-continent who often bowl more extra bowls. This may prove good for the sides like Australia, South Africa and England who already have a more disciplined bowling attack giving away fewer extras.

The other important rules of the game which got approved by ICC are: allowing an extra fielder outside the fielding circle during second or third power play and mandatory change of bowl after of 35 overs of each innings in ODIs. And all these would come into effect from October 1, 2007.

Regards
Raveesh

End of World Cup Dream!!!

So much as has been written, spoken about this. So no more to write but just to say that it is the end of a world cup dream, a dream of more than 100 crore people.

This is India’s worst performance in recent times. History repeated itself when India made first round exit this year 2007, fourth time in the world cup history, earlier being in 1975, 1979 and 1992 editions. Interestingly though first tour of team India after this bad performance will be to Bangladesh, the minnows who outclassed the giants. This is one of Indian Cricket’s darkest phases.

By the way what were Greg and Dravid doing in those games. Probably experimenting for the next world cup. Two stalwarts retired from shorter version of the game after the world cup debacle namely Anil Kumble and Inzimam Ul Haq. But these were not in news in a big way, since it was overshadowed by their respective teams performances

Caught In Bermuda Triangle?

First week of 9^th cricket world cup and already we have seen some twists and turns in the fortunes of the big cricketing nations. Is this the sign of things to come in the following weeks? Let’s wait and see.

Already one of the premier cricketing nations, Pakistan is out of this world cup in the first stage itself. West Indies already made their way into the Super-8. There has been lots of hue and cry over the number of minnows playing in this world cup. But some stunning display by them should have left the critics with no explanation. First it was the turn of Ireland to shock the cricketing world with them forcing a tie with a test playing nation, Zimbabwe. And then came the big one, Ireland defeating Pakistan by 3 wickets after bowling them out for paltry 132. And there was more, Bangladesh had a caught a big fish, India, in their net with their accurate bowling and sharp fielding. These big upsets will surely shape the things to come in this tournament. India is in almost similar position as Pakistan. The threat of being eliminated in the first round looms large. But there is hope. India has won against Bermuda with huge margin but still Net Run Rate is still far behind that of Sri Lanka. India’s final game is against Sri Lanka if they lose that they can surely pack their bags. This time 2^nd round called the super eight stage may have the so called minnows, Ireland making it through and Bangladesh earnestly making an effort. But effectively that stage will be super six since they are still minnows at the big stage and this too with the assumption that there are no more upsets in this tournament.

Consistency and complacency are the often used terms to describe a team in cricket. Best teams in the world like Australia, South Africa display the former and teams from the subcontinent perennially display the latter. That is what has happened to both India and Pakistan. Former got an alarm call soon and the latter later. If only India wakes up to the call can they survive and advance to the next stage. There can be no excuse for India’s defeat against Bangladesh and Pakistan’s defeat against Ireland. Media and expert hypes about this India team being most balanced and being best of all the squads sent to world cup are now seem worthless. India had been bad starters in the previous world cups and they have continued their tradition here too.

On the other front New Zealand got the better of England and South Africa’s Herschel Gibbs made the world record by hitting six sixes in an over against the Netherlands. Australia and Sri Lanka recorded huge wins against Scotland and Bermuda respectively. Observing the ‘upset trend’ in the first round, the second round in this tournament is going to be an interesting one.

Final note: initially I was under the impression that format of this world cup is best so far. But now it seems there is a serious flaw. With just one bad game both Asian big guns are out of the tournament. May be it was assumed that seeded cricketing nations, 2 from each group will qualify for the super 8 and now all calculations are in a tizzy. One big upset and you are out of the tournament. What do you say?

Cricket Fever Is Back

Cricket world is all set to welcome the big event. Cricket World Cup 2007 is finally here. With 16 teams participating this is the biggest cricket tournament ever. Eternal favorites Australia have lost a bit of focus having lost their last 5 ODIs as final preparation for this mega event. But Australia can never be sidelined just because of that since in the past they have shown they can beat any team coming from nowhere just as in world cup 1999 as they lost first few games but only to end as victorious.

In the past there have been instances where defending champions loose out in the first round itself. In 1992, Australia (1987 champions) lost out in the first round itself. In 1996, Pakistan (1992 champions lost to India in the quarter finals to bow out of the championship. Similarly in 1999, Sri Lanka (1996 champions) never looked defending champions. But once Aussies were crowned champions in 1999 they have played like world beaters all these eight years including the 2003 world cup victory.

This time world cup is different in many ways. Biggest cricket tournament so far (16 teams). First time it is being played in West Indies which is another cricket crazy nation just like India. And the format allows the best eight teams to play against each other, which makes the luck factor less relevant. Only 1992 tournament held in Australia and New Zealand had a similar format. And most importantly this time all these 8 teams look strong contenders for the big title. For New Zealand and England, their recent victories against the mighty Aussies and the fact that they have never won the title should inspire them a lot. West Indies look to claim their past glory in their home grounds. Back to back series victories against West Indies and Sri Lanka should have done lot of good to India’s confidence to repeat 1983. Sri Lanka will be hoping that slow nature of the Caribbean pitches would help them to repeat 1996. Pakistan as enigmatic as ever is also a formidable opponent. South Africa was denied a fair chance in finals by the controversial Duckworth Lewis method in the semifinal against England in 1992 and then in 2003 they denied themselves a place in the semifinals by getting Duckworth Lewis arithmetic wrong against Sri Lanka. World No.1 in ODIs will be hoping rich harvest this time. And finally no explanations required for the kangaroos.

World cup has always sprung up few surprises with minnows outsmarting giants. This history goes back to 1983 when Zimbabwe defeated Australia. And in 1996, Kenyans got West Indies under the mat. In 1999, Pakistan was outsmarted by the Bangladesh. And finally in 2003, again Kenya defeated Sri Lanka thus gaining valuable points to enter the semifinals. What will be the surprise this time? Indications are already there with Bangladesh defeating New Zealand in a warm up match.

Surely this is going to be an exciting world cup. Inaugurated today but we have to still wait till March 13, 2007 for the first ball to be bowled, the first match being between West Indies and Pakistan. And let us wait for the new world champion to be announced on 28 April 2007.

First Prey In African Safari

Some good days for the Indians again. Historical win in the Ist test in South Africa (It is India’s first ever test victory against SA in SA) means a lot to this team which was criticized back home for those four dismal performances in limited overs internationals played here in the African country. As Indian coach Greg Chappel pointed out this win must have hurt SA’s pride which made a no-contest of the ODI series earlier. So at least the test series has begun with the positive note for the Indians.

Good to note that this win is the result of team work rather than one or two individual performances. Electing to bat on the first day was a brave move by the Indians. That paid rich dividends at the end of the match. With the return of former skipper Sourav and elegant Laxman team had gained on the middle order in terms of experience. Sourav’s gritty 51 not out in India’s total of 249 must have sent right signals to his critics.

It was a great come back for the Indian bowlers when they bowled out SA for a mere 84, their second lowest score ever in tests, from the ODIs when they were smashed all over the park. In the process India had found their new hero in Sreesanth, with 5-wicket haul in his kitty. Not to forget the contributions from Zaheer Khan and stalwart Kumble. The 165 runs first innings lead India gained played the crucial part in the match. I can hardly remember any occasion in recent times when India gained such a lead in the foreign soil.

It was VVS Laxman’s turn to hold up the things in the 2^nd innings. With almost similar to the Ist innings performance, India set a target of over 400 runs in the fourth innings for the South Africans. A target of over 400 runs in the last innings of a test match on any day, any surface is going to be a daunting task for any team. In the final innings, Indian pace men who had already made an impression in the Ist innings set to their task with Zaheer and Sreesanth picking up early wickets. But South African resistance in the form of Ashley Prince and Shaun Pollock could only be overcome by the warhorse Kumble. In the end it was a win for India by whopping 123 runs. Kudos to Indian team for achieving this well deserved victory.

Its second time this year India have got the lead in the test series, earlier being in West Indies when it lead 1-0 and wrapped up the series with the same margin. It would be interesting to watch the remaining two tests with South Africa eager to bounce back and India trying to maintain the momentum gained. Few years back in Australia when India won the Ist test match and lead the series 1-0 the then Australian captain Steve Waugh had commented that it was advantage Australia as India had less experience overseas leading the series to cope up with that. Eventually series was drawn 1-1. Hope this time in South Africa it would be yet another series victory as it was in West Indies.

Raveesh

New dawn in world cricket !?

Finally Australians have done it. ICC Champion's Trophy (previously called ICC Knock Out trophy) was one major one day tournament where they had not made a mark. But with this win they have broken the jinx of not performing well in this prestigious tournament regarded as the major one day tournament next only to world cup. For the enthusiasts this was their 31st major title in ODIs.

ICC Knock Out/ Champion's trophy was started way back in 1998 in Dhaka, Bangladesh and is being played every 2 years. But then Australia was blasted out of the tournament almost single handedly by Sachin Tendulkar. There was no concept of groups at that time in this tournament. You lose the match and you are out of the tournament. South Africa claimed the title outsmarting West Indies in the final. Then again in the year 2000 in Kenya, Australia was outplayed by India this time with new stars Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh. Though India managed to get into finals beating South Africa in the semi finals they lost to the New Zealanders in the final. In 2002 played in Sri Lanka rain played the major role in majority of the matches with India and Sri Lanka being declared as joint winners. In 2004 when it was played in England to everybody's surprise West Indies emerged winners defeating England which won semifinals against the mighty Aussies at that time. Ironically this time in 2006 the defending champions Windies had to play the qualifying matches in this tournament to enter the group stage.

Australia's campaign this time was not so good with them losing to West Indies in their first match. But then Aussies are Aussies. They could turn around things in no time. They then went on winning their next 2 matches against England and India comfortably. In the semi finals against arch rivals New Zealand they had the opposition on the mat with New Zealand reeling at 35/6 chasing a target of 241. But then Australia too had their anxious moments when Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram put on 103 runs for the 7th wicket. In the end Australia managed to win the match by 34 runs. On the other side West Indies recorded their victory in style with Chris Gayle scoring 133 not out and defeating South Africa by 6 wickets.

But.....
the final between Australia and West Indies proved to be an anti-climax. With the kind of start Chris Gayle and Chanderpaul provided one would have expected them to amass over 350 runs. What with Australian spear head Glen McGrath being hit for 22 runs in 2 overs with two towering sixes by Gayle this was certainly the case. McGrath shaking his head after being hit was very very rare these days. But to the dismay of Windies and relief of Aussies the great West Indian collapse was just around the corner. But it started too early that day. Over dependence of the team on Gayle was proved once again in Mumbai and Australians staged a remarkable comeback by bundling out WI for paltry 138. Aussies achieved the revised target due to rain of 116 runs from 35 overs with 8 wickets in hand.

West Indian collapse is not new. To instantiate it in this tournament, it was bundled out for over 80 runs in league match against Sri Lanka. Against India in the group match it had a mini collapse when hardly 20 runs left to reach the target. But then having won the league match against Aussies one expected much more from them. Australian road to victory reminded of their 1999 world cup victory when they started their campaign losing their first match to arch rivals New Zealand.

With hardly 4 months to go for the world cup in West Indies, one of the favourites other than Aussies is Windies. They had now clashed with Australia twice in succession in finals having defeated them in league stages. Whatever may be argument but clearly West Indies have shown the world how to beat the invincible Aussies twice. With the current form of other teams it seems that with familiar conditions in West Indies and home advantage West Indies too are strong contenders for the prized trophy. Will the golden days of West Indies return? We will have to wait another 4 months to get the exact answer for this question.

Raveesh

Talking Cricket . . .

Cricket season is back again. But again haunted by rains. Anyway that is part and parcel of the game. Its been long time before I wrote anything about cricket. So back to square one.

Cricket commentary is one thing which sets apart this gentleman's game from rest of the sports. Every ardent fan of cricket is sure to have fascinated by the words of commentator. In an era when TVs were a luxury, cricket commentry on radio or shall I say transistors was the only source of instant info on cricket.

Its not just the on-field action which gives colour to this game, but also these band of gentlemen who with their words arouse the interest in a loosing game too. To name a few: Ravi Shastri, Geoffrey Boycott,Tony Greig, Harsha Bhogle and off late Navjot Singh Sidhu. For the curious bunch here is a list though not complete. It is these people who add spice to the rather boring play of test matches or one-sided encounters of ODIs with their stories, comparisions and anecdotes.

Talking about cricket commentators, I think undoubtedly Ravi Shastri is the best ever commentator from India, closely followed by another veteran Harsha Bhogle. Not only commentary but also the post-match presentation is well handled by him, whether it be speaking on the occasion or asking questions with the captains of both teams in play. Phrases like 'margin of error is minimal on this pitch' or style of saying score of 101 as one-o-one have a mark of Ravi Shastri on that. Another good thing about Ravi Shastri is his control over his talk and presence of mind. For an instance, once Ravi Shastri had commented 'Good Shot' when a batsman hit aerial shot on the on-side. But it landed safely in the hands of long-on. Then he changed his comment as 'Infact too good'. Nowadays you can find his shades in Ramiz Raja's commentary. Harsha Bhogle's comments have a lot of research and analysis in it. Amazing for an IIM guy who had no background in cricket to become one of the best commentators in the game. When it comes to speaking the language of the common man in commentry box, nobody can beat Navjot Singh Sidhu. Look at some his comments : 'That ball went so high it could have got an air hostess down with it', 'Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald', 'The cat with gloves catches no mice'. No doubt, he has made a name for himself with his 'Sidhuisms'. Coming to English commentators, Tony Greig and Geoffrey Boycott are unique with their British accent. Dont know who among the two pronounces 'crickeeet' for cricket. Boycott's comment on Sourav Ganguly as 'God of off-side' can be remembered here.

On the other side there are commentators who take the interest away from the game with their boring and slow-paced commentry. One of them would be Sanjay Manjrekar. No enthusiasm in his commentary. Michael Holding's commentary makes us difficult to understand his accent.

With the sports channels increasing this breed continue to increase with their own style of commentary. Lastly, a familiar scene after a coin is tossed in the middle of the pitch used to be Ravi Shastri invariably asking whenever Sourav Ganguly lost the toss 'Disappointed with the toss?' and Sourav invariably replying 'No, Not really'.

One good thing about following cricket commentary is the exposure you get to the vast vocabulary of English. In my opinion, if you want to learn Hindi watch Bollywood movies and for a better English follow cricket commentary. Your opinion may differ.

Comments are welcome.

Raveesh

Cricket In The Time Of Football

Ok, now that it is all settled in football world about who the champion is, it is time to look back at the cricketing world and see what happened during World Cup Football. One change was prominent as far as the newspapers in India were concerned, that football was given wide coverage in the back pages and even in the front pages which predominently belonged to cricket news at any time in India. Not only national newpapers, even regional newspapers were not far behind in this. With this, cricket news shifted to more inner pages with photos in black and white.

Important records were made, broken during this time. Waise bhi cricket me records ki kami nahi hai. Most importantly, it seems that 400 is no longer a run everest in an ODI which no team dared to climb in 35 years of ODI history, with already 3 teams scoring above 400 runs this year. Latest addition to this is Sri Lanka, scoring 443 for 9 against Netherlands. Australia climbed the run everest 434 for 4, March this year proudly. But joy of Australians was short-lived with South Africa outplaying them scoring 435 for 9 with a delivery left, thus the Australian record not even lasted for 4 hours. And now it is the turn South Africans with their record lasting not even 4 months. Cricket is like that, a game of glorious uncertainities.

Partnerships in ODIs is one aspect of the game where Indians have built upon their own records, with wicketwise 5 of the partnership records are in the name of Indians out of 10. But this time their record 1st wicket partnership came under threat and broken again by Sri Lankans Tharanga and Jayasuriya putting on 286 runs for the first wicket against England. Previous best was between Ganguly and Tendulkar for 258 runs against Kenya.

Coming to the impact of football on cricket, England team escaped big media bashing for their dismal 0-5 loss to Sri Lanka in the ODI series with most media covering more football news than anything else. Sachin's exploits in England gained mileage only in cricket sites like cricinfo.com but in otherdays he made news everywhere he went. Jayasuriya became the second highest in number of hundreds scored in one day cricket, a place jointly held by former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly.

I bought Sportstar last week to get to know more about India's series victory in the Caribbean only to find out that only 4-5 pages dedicated to this, which covered the last two tests between India and West Indies. I thought sab football ki mahima hai.

Raveesh

Historic Win

Can't wait to write this post after the historic win of Indian cricket team at Kingston. This was the series win all of the Indian cricket fans have been waiting from more than three decades. Finally the jinx has been broken and India have registered their first series win in the Caribbean after 35 years. Not to forget that this was the long awaited overseas series win after 20 years, last one being at England in 1986.

Caribbean tour has not been the pleasant for the Indian team in the past. Last time India came close to clinching the series was in 1997 in the Barbados test when it was chasing a target of 120. Sadly at that time team was allout for a mere 81. And in 2001 India was leading the series 1-0 only to be outplayed by Windies 2-1 in the last 2 tests.

After the ODI series loss 1-4 to West Indies nobody would have expected Indians to do well in the test series. Kudos to Rahul Dravid and team for their efforts to make sure that they win the test series. Though the score line may say the series win as 1-0 it would have been 2-0 or even 3-0 if there was some luck and little effort from this team. But win is a win and it has come at the right the time to boost the team morale after the ODI series loss.

Though the win was a team effort, 2 persons stand out with exemplary performances, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. Dravid kept his cool when the wickets were tumbling at the other end to make sure India did not bundle out for mere 100 runs in the first innings. Support he got from Kumble is tremendous, with the duo adding 93 runs for the 7th wicket. India were in dire straits with 91-6 then. Dravid's contribution of 81 and 68 will go as the best test innings he has played so far. Not to forget the contribution of Kumble of 45 in the first innings which was vital at that time. Harbhajan's 5 wicket haul certainly deserves mention here. And in the second innings it was Sreesanth who set tone for the historic win taking 3 crucial wickets of Gayle, Ganga and Sarwan. Munaf took the big wicket of Lara. Then it was Kumble all the way taking 6 wickets for 78 runs. For a man which may be his last Caribbean tour it was performance to cherish. One still remembers him coming to bowl with the broken jaw in 2001 to get big man Lara out for lbw and to get pat on the back from umpire David Shepherd. Kumble has been doing well in the overseas contrary to the notion of the critics in past couple of years. He has proved that once again. Kudos to Kumble.

Next series ahead is the triangular ODI series in Sri Lanka comprising India, Sri Lanka and South Africa starting from 14th August, 2006 with India taking on Sri Lanka on 16th August. Though this series win may have hidden the cracks, but India have to work on the teams weaknesses such as some of its players playing below par and regain their one day form. Since the series is played subcontinent itself, there should not be any difficulty in doing that. Sri Lanka are upbeat with 5-0 ODI series victory over England where in the last match they scored 324 in just 37.3 overs. South Africa and India were tied at 2-2 when these two met last time in India. So lot of exciting cricket in store for the cricket buffs in the coming days. So series promises to be a close one.

This historic series win in the Caribbean would go as one of the golden moments in Indian cricket. Indian cricket fans will remember this win for a long long time.

Raveesh