Well it was the Sydney test in late 2007 that evoked the world's attention and bought into scene the umpire referral system wherein a captain can object to the on field umpires and force three of the many wrong decisions to the third umpire in case they are not convinced with the onfield umpires' decision. That particular test at Sydney had a record eight wrong decisions which was finally condemned by one and all. I still remember Sunil Gavaskar shouting at the onfield umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor as though he was an avid Indian cricket fan sitting out there.
Following this debacle, one fine day, the umpire referral system was suggested by a brain which happened to exist but with limited success. I personally feel that the UDRS should have been bought into existence long back with every human being aware of the fact that people make errors and umpires are no exception. The world had to wait for the Sydney test to happen and Australia snatching their 16th consecutive test win in a grand style which will always be remembered for the wrong reasons as long as the earth exists. Well, everything is fair in love and war.
Australians can plead innocence with one out of the eight decisions going in favor of the Indians though the remaining 7 happened to be cashed out by the Aussies. Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor were found batting for Australia without bats while the Australian captain Ricky Ponting was found to do the role of an umpire when he declared Sourav Ganguly out caught. To be part of such a test match is indeed a glory for anyone both as a spectator and as a player. Now, in the same India - Australia series, the UDRS is rumored to be scrapped off.
Will the Australians once again make hay in this time's sunshine? Now, Australia are not chasing any major record like they were chasing their 16th test win at Sydney. In case Sachin Tendulkar fails to make it to the squad, there would be no reason for Australia to act stupid for, a victory is all the most guaranteed. However, had this been a test series, the implication of the scrapping of the UDRS would have had a serious impact on the dignity of the game and Aussies in particular. Oh! This time, the series is held in India and not in Australia for the Aussies to act cunning.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Mitchell Johnson too much worried about India
Well for the past two times in 2007 and 2009, Australia have managed to take home the 7 match one day series in India and against India. That was the time in 2007 when the Australian team, though fresh from its bad memories of losing to India in the semi finals for the world T20 at South Africa, were well fresh from their world cup win early that year. Australia were able to cross the 300 run mark on four occasions out of which one went in vain when in the 1st one dayer at Bangalore Australia scored 316 runs powered by Michael Clarke's 130 only to be washed away by rain.
In that edition of the bilateral series, Australia scored a 4-2 win, with India winning two matches out of fluke and not by hardwork as suggested by the scorecard where in the first match India won by 8 runs and the other one by 2 wickets chasing a mere total of 193 on the board. the case was a lot better in last year's series where India though managed just two wins never were let down by giving the Aussies a run for their money. India managed to cross the 300 run mark on two occasions and on one occasion came close to chasing down 351 empowered by Sachin Tendulkar's 172 which saw India fall short by 3 runs.
In that match, Sachin Tendulkar made news for scoring the maximum number of 150+ scores in ODIs jointly with Sanath Jayasurya. That was Sachin Tendulkar's second score above 170 which was till then enjoyed by only Vivian Richards. The series saw contributions from Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh along with Sachin and Sehwag. Team work was evident like never before in team India. But still, that was not enough for India fell short by 2 matches to take home the series. Now, team India once again is bound to face Australia like last year but without Sachin Tendulkar which has to be thought about seriously.
And, with so many drawbacks in team India, Mitchell Johnson's idea to strike India with the SG cricket ball is foolish. He could not hurt the already dead Pakistan with his fast moving deliveries despite Pakistan being desperate to lose. So was the case in the bilateral series involving England which Australia lost by a 2-3 margin. Now, with Australia's chances being high in the series against India, is Mitchell Johnson trying to make room for himself and take credit for something not happening because of him? Well, India is now short of bowlers and batsmen are in the que to take honors Mitchell!
In that edition of the bilateral series, Australia scored a 4-2 win, with India winning two matches out of fluke and not by hardwork as suggested by the scorecard where in the first match India won by 8 runs and the other one by 2 wickets chasing a mere total of 193 on the board. the case was a lot better in last year's series where India though managed just two wins never were let down by giving the Aussies a run for their money. India managed to cross the 300 run mark on two occasions and on one occasion came close to chasing down 351 empowered by Sachin Tendulkar's 172 which saw India fall short by 3 runs.
In that match, Sachin Tendulkar made news for scoring the maximum number of 150+ scores in ODIs jointly with Sanath Jayasurya. That was Sachin Tendulkar's second score above 170 which was till then enjoyed by only Vivian Richards. The series saw contributions from Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh along with Sachin and Sehwag. Team work was evident like never before in team India. But still, that was not enough for India fell short by 2 matches to take home the series. Now, team India once again is bound to face Australia like last year but without Sachin Tendulkar which has to be thought about seriously.
And, with so many drawbacks in team India, Mitchell Johnson's idea to strike India with the SG cricket ball is foolish. He could not hurt the already dead Pakistan with his fast moving deliveries despite Pakistan being desperate to lose. So was the case in the bilateral series involving England which Australia lost by a 2-3 margin. Now, with Australia's chances being high in the series against India, is Mitchell Johnson trying to make room for himself and take credit for something not happening because of him? Well, India is now short of bowlers and batsmen are in the que to take honors Mitchell!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Struggling batsman but not struggling captain
Well the present England captain Andrew Strauss along with Kevin Pietersen have not been up to the mark as far as their series against Pakistan was concerned. It would be a bad idea to go into the details of both the batsmen's batting charts in the past few months with England having played Bangladesh twice prior to the present ongoing series against Pakistan. It need not be cited specially that a series or a match against a team like Bangladesh would hardly evoke any sort of interest among senior batsmen of the likes mentioned above. So would be the case involving West Indies.
A bad performance against a team like Bangladesh need not be due to lack of form or fitness but, it could also be owing to the lack of interest in facing a weak opposition like Bangladesh. Still, if the past one year or so is concerned for England, they have had series wins against Australia in the Ashes last year which is more than anything else. England have beaten Australia last year in the Ashes and this year in the finals of the world T20 held in the West Indies. These two triumphs go unparalleled. This happened in the presence of Andrew Strauss not to mention.
And coming to the test matches involving Pakistan, the scorecard suggests that the venues for the three matches that have taken place have been bowler friendly ones which is evident from the fact that Pakistan were bowled out for a score less than 100 on two occasions and that too consecutive ones. And for Strauss not to perform should not be taken too far for someone to justify their decision like the England coach - Gooch is found defending the inclusion of Strauss and Pietersen. Pietersen on the other hand has also been found doing a fab job for his team may be not in the recent past.
Whatsoever, Andrew Strauss has been a decent captain with wins against all major cricketing nations since he took over as the captain early last year for the series against West Indies. It should matter for as far as Strauss does a fab job as a captain, his performance as a batsman should not come under scrutiny. There can be other players who can step into the shoes of Strauss as a batsman but not as a captain. So would be the case with Kevin Pietersen who has a hard hitting ability which was evident in the world T20 and the IPL the preceded the same.
A bad performance against a team like Bangladesh need not be due to lack of form or fitness but, it could also be owing to the lack of interest in facing a weak opposition like Bangladesh. Still, if the past one year or so is concerned for England, they have had series wins against Australia in the Ashes last year which is more than anything else. England have beaten Australia last year in the Ashes and this year in the finals of the world T20 held in the West Indies. These two triumphs go unparalleled. This happened in the presence of Andrew Strauss not to mention.
And coming to the test matches involving Pakistan, the scorecard suggests that the venues for the three matches that have taken place have been bowler friendly ones which is evident from the fact that Pakistan were bowled out for a score less than 100 on two occasions and that too consecutive ones. And for Strauss not to perform should not be taken too far for someone to justify their decision like the England coach - Gooch is found defending the inclusion of Strauss and Pietersen. Pietersen on the other hand has also been found doing a fab job for his team may be not in the recent past.
Whatsoever, Andrew Strauss has been a decent captain with wins against all major cricketing nations since he took over as the captain early last year for the series against West Indies. It should matter for as far as Strauss does a fab job as a captain, his performance as a batsman should not come under scrutiny. There can be other players who can step into the shoes of Strauss as a batsman but not as a captain. So would be the case with Kevin Pietersen who has a hard hitting ability which was evident in the world T20 and the IPL the preceded the same.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Loopholes in SRT's cricketing life
Well hardly anyone of you would like to read something bad about the world's best batsmen in the first two formats of the game of cricket. But, if anyone wants to come across a batsman who has absolutely no loopholes at all, there has to be only a dream as such. And, Sachin Tendulkar is no exception when it comes to the world of loopholes. Even this great batsman possess few loopholes and ones that can hardly be forgiven. The first thing that can be pointed out would be that he holds the record for being one of the worst captains of India ever.
The only two trophies that Sachin Tendulkar has been able to achieve in his one year long international career as a captain is the titan cup in 1996 which India won over South Africa, not before losing 3 matches to the same in the league stages of the tournament. And then, there was a bilateral series win over Pakistan in 1997 which India won by a maregin 4-1. In his 20 year long international career in cricket, Sachin Tendulkar could not hold the captain's tag for more than a year or so. Of course, Anil Kumble also enjoyed the tag only for a year but for the wrong reasons.
Anil Kumble was under estimated by the selection and was forced to hand over one to Kumble when Ganguly retired and Dravid also followed suit when he retired from captaincy. And then, as mentioned above, Sachin Tendulkar was no longer eligible for the job and there was no other player in the team but Kumble to take the honors. Adding to this debacle, Sachin Tendulkar can never be forgiven for throwing away his wicket so cheaply in the finals of the world cup in 2003 held at South Africa. Sachin Tendulkar got out the fifth ball giving a cheap catch to Glenn McGrath.
Sachin Tendulkar's wicket was the most awaited wicket in the finals and Sachin throwing it away so cheaply speaks about the batsman's caliber in tough times though many a times he has proved to be otherwise. So was the case in the match played at Chennai where Saeed Anwar scored 194 in the Independence cup 1997 where once again Sachin Tendulkar returned back after scoring a boundary. Sachin Tendulkar has failed to score a triple hundred in tests though he has scored a double hundred in one dayers. Well, let me stop here before you guys curse me for I can read your curses as well.
The only two trophies that Sachin Tendulkar has been able to achieve in his one year long international career as a captain is the titan cup in 1996 which India won over South Africa, not before losing 3 matches to the same in the league stages of the tournament. And then, there was a bilateral series win over Pakistan in 1997 which India won by a maregin 4-1. In his 20 year long international career in cricket, Sachin Tendulkar could not hold the captain's tag for more than a year or so. Of course, Anil Kumble also enjoyed the tag only for a year but for the wrong reasons.
Anil Kumble was under estimated by the selection and was forced to hand over one to Kumble when Ganguly retired and Dravid also followed suit when he retired from captaincy. And then, as mentioned above, Sachin Tendulkar was no longer eligible for the job and there was no other player in the team but Kumble to take the honors. Adding to this debacle, Sachin Tendulkar can never be forgiven for throwing away his wicket so cheaply in the finals of the world cup in 2003 held at South Africa. Sachin Tendulkar got out the fifth ball giving a cheap catch to Glenn McGrath.
Sachin Tendulkar's wicket was the most awaited wicket in the finals and Sachin throwing it away so cheaply speaks about the batsman's caliber in tough times though many a times he has proved to be otherwise. So was the case in the match played at Chennai where Saeed Anwar scored 194 in the Independence cup 1997 where once again Sachin Tendulkar returned back after scoring a boundary. Sachin Tendulkar has failed to score a triple hundred in tests though he has scored a double hundred in one dayers. Well, let me stop here before you guys curse me for I can read your curses as well.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Inspired By Sehwag
So far, if not for greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Muttiah Muralitharan, there have hardly been any followers for any of the existing players in international cricket. In fact, players like Dhoni and Sehwag have been inspired from Sachin Tendulkar to make it to the big stage. One has to ask Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara or Muttiah Muralitharan as to who or what on earth inspired them to take cricket as a career. Of course, though money factor exists in today's cricket, that was not the case some decade ago when Muttiah Muralitharan and Sachin Tendulkar were in their initial stages of their career.
Today's cricketers are more inspired by money and fame rather than the game or the challenges that come from within. Anyways, coming to the matter, a New Zealand cricketer Peter Ingram has said that it was after watching India's dashing opener Virender Sehwag that made him take the bat in his hands. The influence of Virender Sehwag on Ingram is to such an extent that though Peter Ingram has been repeated criticism for his lack of footwork, Ingram terms it to be the replica of his so called idol Virender Sehwag's style. If one goes by nature, their dates of birth differ by just 5 days.
At the same time, if their success in international cricket is considered, they stand way apart. Sehwag has gone too forward with two triple hundreds and six double centuries against his name in international test cricket which is bettered by only Sir Don Bradman, Walter Hammond and Brian Lara. Not even Sachin Tendulkar (Sehwag's batting idol) has been able to achieve the same in test cricket. It has been equaled by Pakistan's Javed Miandad and Sri Lanka's Marvan Attapattu, both of whom have 6 double hundreds against their names. However, this has to be justified if at all one has to believe that Sehwag is Ingram's batting idol.
Idols have to always stand apart from their followers in any field or else, who on earth would follow them? Likewise, cricketing greats like Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd and Ian Botham have been an inspiration to batting youngsters after their retirement and so has been the case with bowlers like Shaun Pollock and Glenn McGrath. They were an inspiration after their team started making news for the good reasons. Likewise, someone like Andrew Flintoff and Craig McDermott could not be an inspiration though deserving to be so. Jonty Rhodes has hardly inspired anyone to take fielding as a career option.
Today's cricketers are more inspired by money and fame rather than the game or the challenges that come from within. Anyways, coming to the matter, a New Zealand cricketer Peter Ingram has said that it was after watching India's dashing opener Virender Sehwag that made him take the bat in his hands. The influence of Virender Sehwag on Ingram is to such an extent that though Peter Ingram has been repeated criticism for his lack of footwork, Ingram terms it to be the replica of his so called idol Virender Sehwag's style. If one goes by nature, their dates of birth differ by just 5 days.
At the same time, if their success in international cricket is considered, they stand way apart. Sehwag has gone too forward with two triple hundreds and six double centuries against his name in international test cricket which is bettered by only Sir Don Bradman, Walter Hammond and Brian Lara. Not even Sachin Tendulkar (Sehwag's batting idol) has been able to achieve the same in test cricket. It has been equaled by Pakistan's Javed Miandad and Sri Lanka's Marvan Attapattu, both of whom have 6 double hundreds against their names. However, this has to be justified if at all one has to believe that Sehwag is Ingram's batting idol.
Idols have to always stand apart from their followers in any field or else, who on earth would follow them? Likewise, cricketing greats like Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd and Ian Botham have been an inspiration to batting youngsters after their retirement and so has been the case with bowlers like Shaun Pollock and Glenn McGrath. They were an inspiration after their team started making news for the good reasons. Likewise, someone like Andrew Flintoff and Craig McDermott could not be an inspiration though deserving to be so. Jonty Rhodes has hardly inspired anyone to take fielding as a career option.
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