Key players' fitness always an issue

Well the latest abuzz in the world of cricket is that India's most experienced pace bowler - Zaheer Khan will have to prove his fitness in case he has to relish his dreams of touring Australia for the Border - Gavaskar trophy starting late next month. This is not the case only with Zaheer Khan and not the case only regarding India - Australia tests. The most important players be it in any department, are found to withdraw during the serious phase of a test series. I remember Sachin Tendulkar missing out for the Border - Gavaskar trophy in 2004-05 played at home.

This proved a trump card for the Aussies who tasted victory on Indian soil after 34 years. So was the case in the Ashes 2005-06 where Shane Warne was found missing from the game which England won by three wickets. And, Glenn McGrath missed out in the only two tests which England won in that series consisting of five games. South Africa always have a problem with Jacques Kallis regarding his fitness whenever an important tour would kick in. But, luckily during such phases, we see Amla doing the job for the Proteas. The Pakistani pacer Wasim Akram was found warming the benches during crucial stages owing to injury.

The problem regarding fitness has more often got to do with fast bowlers than batsmen or spin bowlers. The reason regarding the same may be due to the fact that fast bowlers have to sweat it out more at the nets compared to players from other departments. Fast bowlers move their arms more often than players from any other department in cricket. The players who make it to the top ten can be cited as Sreesanth, Glenn McGrath, Allan Donald, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, Waqar Younis, Chaminda Vass, Brett Lee, Shoaib Akthar and last but not the least Shane Bond.

Very few from other departments like Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting make it to that list and that too seldom. Of course, in the last decade or so, Ponting has been on the top to miss a test match or a test series owing to injury. And, coming to spin bowlers, Anil Kumble tops the charts followed by Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh (noted spin bowlers of the world). Added to injuries, the impact of injuries are also found to target fast bowlers more than any other players. An injury to a fast bowler can be career threatening which would not be the case regarding players from other departments.

Premier League disease spreads to SL

Well one has to no doubt be fed up with the ongoing Indian Premier League in its fourth successive edition and bound to become more and more worthless and boring at the same time. Now, it would come in as another blow when a neighboring country tries to copy the same irrespective of whether it would become successful or not. As stated earlier, the 4^th edition of the IPL is nothing but total crap with lack of any cricketing technique. One can hardly see any high scores chased down or any sort of big hitting from the blades of say Brendon McCullum.

I hardly have the patience to go through the website to check out who holds the orange and the purple cap and on the other side who is the topper on the charts. But, through newspapers and sports magazines, I can say that the real action is missing out totally not partially. There is no Anil Kumble who could do wonders with the ball and people like Shane Warne and Muralitharan who have shown great expectations are highly below the mark with the ball deciding not to respect these elders in the game. Likewise, Glenn McGrath is missing from the action from the past 2 years.

And, coming to the batting, someone like Sanath Jayasuriya and Brian Lara have been shown the gates before they had decided to enter one when they were not picked up by any of the franchisees. With that apart, now one more goat is found following its parent when the SLC not only plans to do a replica of the same but also ends up kick starting one. Pakistan had one shown interest in holding such an event on its soil but may be didn't go ahead with the same citing security reasons hosting and venue reasons. Well, I'm afraid whether this would definitely work.

Though most of them would now be looking forward to Entertainment,travel & living blogs, the Indian premier League is of some interest but that can never be guaranteed regarding the Sri Lankan counterpart whatsoever. I wonder what teams would feature in the Sri Lankan Premier League with the entire nation as big as one state in India. Perhaps! Every gully will have a team of its own. Added to that, the Sri Lankan cricket board should also look out for the dates on the calender with the entire year busy. All cricket boards cannot be lucky as the BCCI are.

The deserving and undeserving

Well it was fascinating to see V V S Laxman being awarded the 4^th highest honor namely the Padma Shri award needless to be said for his contribution to international and domestic cricket. Though Laxman deserves the award, one has to think aout the deserving but denied cricketers like Javagal Srinath whose contribution to Indian cricket is as immense as Laxman's is along with the other 10 such players. Things have become a total confusion in Indian cricket with undeserving players becoming millionaires while the deserving are taken up for a throw away price. I can also recall someone quoting Mathew Hayden above Sachin Tendulkar in the international run.

If the list of the 10 players who have been awarded the Padma Shri is given a close look at, the list includes Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Bishen Singh Bedi. No doubt that all these players deserve to be in the elite list with some doubts raising over the selection of Ganguly and Bishen Singh Bedi, some other players who could have been given a thought include Javagal Srinath who was the lone fast bowler after Kapil Dev to continue for 12 years before Zaheer Khan and co took charge.

If Anil Kumble could have been given the honor, Javagal Srinath deserves it equally. Similiarly, another cricketer to have been unlucky is Syed Kirmani, who was a wicket keeper one of his kind and a replacement for whom is yet to be included. Not even Dhoni can be placed close to Kirmani in terms of wicket keeping. And then, Krishnamachari Shrikanth was the first batsman and cricketer to have taken two five wicket hauls for India, something that even a full time bowler Kapil Dev couldn't do. Mohammed Azharuddin was the first Indian batsman to have crossed 6000 runs in one day cricket but Azharuddin has been given a different award.

No one disputes the treatment given to Azharuddin. And, if the list is once again given a close look at, it is evident that except for Kapil, Bedi and Gavaskar, the rest of them belong to the recent past or the last decade. One has to give a rethinking to the selection of Dhoni into this elite list with more than a decade to go in his career. So is the case with Harbhajan Singh when Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh miss out. One more interesting fact is that except Harbhajan, Kumble, and Bedi the rest of them are batsmen. Kapil is the lone all rounder. Now, another batsman has joined the list.

Finally, the list holds good if statistics are excluded from discussion. But, what else does hold good to judge a player's caliber?

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.

A soft target for Bangalore

Well as long as there are teams like the Rajasthan Royals, teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore have hardly any sort of problem. Can anyone of you imagine a total of just 130 in a T20 game and that too by a team that involves a batsman who has set the record for scoring the fastest hundred in the IPL? Can anyone of you imagine a team to have 4 wickets in hand at the end of their 20^th over and yet end up scoring just over six runs an over? Yes, that is the Rajasthan Royals for you. The team which won 11 out of the 14 games scheduled and the title a couple of years back.

The eitire innings of the Rajasthan Royals had only one hit out of the stands when Abhishek Raut hit the lone six of the innings. Coincidentally, he was also the top scorer of the match when he score an unbeaten 32 runs to push the run rate past 6 an over. All the Royal Challengers Bangalore required was just 5 bowlers all of whom bowled their full quota of 4 overs each. This can happen only when the opposition batsmen offer no resistance and challenge as well. If not for Anil Kumble, all other bowlers returned with wickets against their names.

However, this doesn't matter much for cricket is a team game unlike badminton or tennis that is played between two individuals. Luckily, there was also an over maiden which belonged to Pankaj Singh. Overs rarely go maiden as far as a T20 game is concerned. However, one cannot blame it completely on the Rajasthan Royals' batsmen for their debacle, for even the Royal Challengers Bangalore followed a callous approach when they lost 5 wickets enroute to their successful run chase of 131 runs. Nevermind that the Bangalore team reached the winning run in just over 15 overs, but it is the approach which makes the difference.

It is such games that come crucial in terms of a tie breaker when two or more teams end up with equal number of points. One fascinating thing about the Rajasthan Royals bowlers was that they never bowled an extra delivery for an innings that lasted close to a hundred deliveries long. Even the Rajasthan Royals followed their opposition when even they like their opposition never handed the ball to a sixth bowler with 3 of the 5 bowlers set to bowl their complete quota of 4 overs. Yousuf Pathan would have come in handy in such cases and Adam Voges being given another chance would not have proved costly.

At the end of the day, there was a bad match for cricket fans who want some decent action from the batsmen especially.

The way the RCB's IPL campaign starts

Well despite the fact that yesterday the Royal Challengers lost their first match of the tournament to the Kolkata Knight Riders, this need not draw any sort of criticism be it from the fans, the owner or even the coach f the RCB- Ray Jennings. This has been the usual way the Royal Challengers kick start their IPL campaign by losing the very first encounter rather miserably be it against any opposition. This time as well, the result was no different when the RCB lost to the KKR who were positioned last on the points table in the previous edition held at South Africa.

It was to the same Kolkata Knight Riders that the Royal Challengers Bangalore lost miserably in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League a couple of years back. That was the match where Brendon McCullum scored the highest individual score of 158* aiding his team to a total of 223 on the board. And, the Royal Challengers had absolutely no answer to McCullum's blasting shots. They gave up the match the moment a total in excess of 200 was put up on the board. The RCBs lost all their 10 wickets for a score of 82 runs on the board, which were 76 runs short of what McCullum could manage.

The only reason for the Royal Challengers to feel happy was that they did not lose all their 10 wickets despite being unable to challenge the Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers. The RCBs put up a run rate in excess of 6 an over which at one stage of the match seemed a tough task. The RCBs made the KKR batsmen to come close to the ultimate over to score the winning runs. This can bring up the statement that "had the RCBs put up an additional 20 runs on the board, they could have well won the match" no matter to what extent the statement holds good.

Whatever happens, Jacques Kallis can never let his team down and this time as well he has done the same when he carried his bat throughout the innings despite wickets falling from the other end. At the same time, one cannot dispute the fact that the Kolkata Knight Riders were playing in the Eden Gardens wherein they are guaranteed the home advantage. This time, fortunately for the Royal Challengers, Brendon McCullum was not present in the KKR squad to remind the RCBs of the nightmare he had inflicted on them a couple of years back. Anil Kumble once again came back to his test playing days when he bowled 4 overs by not taking a wicket but still not even going in for runs as well.

India Versus Weather?

Well all tongues have started wagging in the favour of team India as favourites to win the test series against New Zealand in New Zealand may be for the first time in the history of Indian cricket if the experts are to be believed. And this looked pretty obvious and is still looking the same despite some or rather frequent disruptions from weather that is trying to play a spoilsport at Wellington. And even if rain or weather gods prefer New Zealand over India, the result sheet would still read "India have won the test series against New Zealand 1-0". The only disappointment would be due to the fact that despite fighting so hard a 2-0 result could not be achieved.

Had it been some two or three years down the lane, in the sense when it was either Rahul Dravid or Sourav Ganguly who were captaining the Indian side, even a 1-0 margin would have bought up smiles of joy on the faces of the Indian players. Because, that was all that the then Indian team under Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly or even Anil Kumble for that matter could do. But, that does not seem to be the case with Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ever since he has captained the Indian side, the worst result he could expect was a draw. A loss to M S Dhoni is still far off I believe.

Ever since Mahendra Singh Dhoni has taken over from the shoes of Anil Kumble, or even earlier to that, the team has been not only victorious but also in a dominating position in every department of the game and in all three forms of the game too. The worst series result for M S Dhoni being the 1-0 series win against England where the second test ended in a draw. Otherwise it has been 1 out of 1 against the Proteas, two out of two against the Aussies, not two out of two against the Kiwis as well. Compared to Dhoni's, if Dravid is placed at the other end, his tally reads 1 out of 3 against England in 2007, 1 out of 4 against the West Indies in 2006 and a win in South Africa only to lose the 2nd and 3rd test.

Likewise, Anil Kumble has had successes like 1 out of 3 against Pakistan late 2007 followed by 2 draws against the Aussies in the B-G trophy in the tests which he captained. Well lets not go to the days where Mohammed Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly had captained the team. The weather is found threatening to see a 1-0 result for Dhoni as well. This being evident from the days 3 and 4 where play could not be completed as per plan. In case the weather behaves to be neutral, like the umpires on the field, then 2/2 for Dhoni thins time is already carved on stones. But, will that really happen? Lets wait and watch.

Captaincy- A Batsman's Right?

The last night's decision by the ECB to appoint Andrew Strauss as the captain for the upcoming series against the West Indies raised some questions as to whether captaincy is the job of the batsmen and rarely do bowlers are offered the job?This not only being the case regarding England team. But, a little bit of glance would reveal that if not for the New Zealand team, every other cricketing nation has elected a batsman as its skipper. The reason regarding the same is yet to be disclosed. Does anyone out thre know the funda of a batsman-captain relationship? If so, please tell me.

For, it has not been able for me to know as to what makes the selectors go in for batsmen when it come to selecting a captain for its side. For a team India, the present captain in M S Dhoni bats in addition to keeping wickets. And before Dhoni, it was handled by batsmen like Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Mohd Azharuddin. Very rarely has there been a captain who is a bowler rather than a batsman. The rare exception being that of Anil Kumble, who was made India's test captain at the fag end of his cricketing career. Neither was Javagal Srinath nor Venkatesh Prasad were given the job despite being at the top of the bowling in their playing days.

And, for the West Indies, after Courtney Walsh retired after the 1999 world cup, the captains have been Jimmy Adams, Carl Hooper, Brian Lara and Chris Gayle off late. For Australia, fellow legends- Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath were never offerred the job whatsoever. The predecessors for Ponting have been batsmen in Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Allan Border, with Adam Gilchrist & Ian Healy doing the job in their absense. For Pakistan, the last five captains have been Shoaib mailk (present), Inzamam Ul Haq, Moin Khan, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram. In this case, the two of them being bowlers.

For Sri Lanka, match winners in Mutiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vass were never ever offerred the job. Its been Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Attapattu, Mahela Jayawardane who took over the team's responsibility after another batsman Arjuna Ranatunga called it a day. The last bowler to captain England was, I guess was Dominic Cork, with no idea as to how long he continued. Then, it was Alec Stewart, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and now Andrew Strauss. At present the only bowler who is found captaining his side is Daniel Vettori, who took over from fellow batsmen Stephen Fleming, Adam Parore and Lee Germon (1996).

Last but not the least we have South Africa, who have elected a batsmen in Greame Smith, after Pollock failed to move to the super sixes of the ICC world cup in 2003. Before that it was Hansie Cronje, who was precedeed by Kepler Wessels and Peter Kirsten. Never mind that the aforementioned players have done justice to their role, but, miking bowlers take on their side would surely persuade youngsters to take up the job of bowling, which is ever diminishing day to day, with ICC bringing new rules every now and then to make batsmen's life easy.

A Deserving Farwell,But Not A Deserving Treatment

Well a shocking decision by Anil Kumble to call it a day from the longest version of the game is a lot discussed thing since yesterday.But,without a word or two about this great gentleman would be an insult not only for Anil Kumble but for me also for being a cricket blogger and not writing anything about this great chap who has served cricket with all heart and soul for the past 18 years.In addition to whatever that has been discussed about Anil Kumble since he announced his retirement from test cricket,there is something that I share with Jumbo apart from being from the same state where he made his mark as a cricketer.But,that is a top secret.

I bet that there cannot be any other member in the team who had to undergo so much humiliation undeservingly.Not even Sourav Ganguly for that matter.I wonder as to why people didn't stand up against Anil Kumble when he had to go through the odds he never deserved?When Ganguly came in for all sympathy from his team mates and his fans back at Kolkata, in what way was Kumble's issue different from that of Dada? Despite all these odds,Jumbo has crossed all of them to become the highest wicket taker in all forms of the game.No doubt,he got the farewell what he deserved.But, atleast if one could have a glimpse of what Kumble would have underwent through all these years.

I wonder what made Sourav Ganguly to go in for Dinesh Mongia and Mohd Kaif with Kumble being made to warm the benches in the 2003 world cup?This despite his 4 wicket haul against Holland and the run out of Inzamam in the famous Indo-Pak encounter.If Ganguly feels humiliated for being dropped for the Irani Trophy, so would be Kumble for the same since Ganguly took charge as captain.Even in the 2007 World Cup, Kumble played just one ODI against Bermuda and given a ticket in the matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.If this is the case, why the hell do the selectors go in for Kumble to be included in the 15 member squad?

Since his re-entry into the national squad in Adelaide test after being ignored by Ganguly in the Brisbane test (which delayed his 400th test wicket), Anil Kumble has missed only two occasions owing to injury.The one against South Africa and the other in the recent Mohali test.Isn't this lovely when copmpared to someone like Zaheer Khan, Ishanth Sharma and our hero Sreesanth, who are most of the time in garages getting some of their parts repaired? One can never forget the way he bought up a victory against Australia in Bangalore in Titan cup 1996,after a series of controversial decisions involving Mohd. Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja along with his Karnataka team mate Javagal Srinath.

Both Srinath and Kumble share something,for both of them announced their retirements all of a sudden and shockingly.Of course not much was expected from their aging bodies and minds.But, I guess there was some fuel still left in their tank. Srinath announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on 11Th November 2003 and Anil Kumble on 2ND November 2008.The difference being close to 5 years.And one fascinating achievement about Anil Kumble that could be compared with nothing is his 10 wicket haul against Pakistan at Delhi.This I call is the most undisputed record for even the 400* scored by Lara could be achieved with sheer determination and hard work,while Kumble's perfect ten could have been averted by some unfair means by the opposition batsman getting run-out or throwing his wicket to any other bowler,like it happened to Murali against England and Zimbabwe.

Whether someone can replace Anil Kumble or not being out of question,but,the post insists that a person of the caliber of Anil Kumble gets his reward for the hard work and dedication that he has shown in the game of cricket for almost two decades.Last but not the least,Cricketahead salutes this great hearted bowler with all cheers throughout his off-field life.

Referral System-The Need Of The Hour

Well the umpire referral system which was put into trial in the recently concluded India-Sri Lanka series was thought to bring about some relief to cricket fans, players and also prove a more accurate means of providing justice to the teams and the game of cricket.But,its really sad that the system never got scaled up to a bigger level despite some ugly decisions, especially the one in the Sydney test between India and Australia that is still afresh in people's minds.Its really confusing to guess as to what the ICC is upto.What does the ICC want?When things like a super sup were in place for almost a year or so,and the rule of an extended power play , a free hit that was derived from the T20 cricket and the match being reduced to 20 over to declare a team as a winner (previously 25 overs) which was not a necessity is still ruling cricket.

Are the umpires the heart and soul of a cricket match?Aren't umpires bound to make any mistakes in decisions?The ICC bought some smiles on the faces of the players atleast after so much fuss that went on for decades altogether,that the ICC introduced the referral system.But,god knows what on earth stopped them from continuing the same.If not all,atleast some decisions like the caught behind, lbw and run outs could have been given a second chance.For these decisions are more likely to be misread by umpires.I wish theses referral system had been introduced long back by taking umpires to be humans and not gods altogether.

The very first test series involving India and Australia-the Border Gavaskar Trophy has seen as many as four wrong decisions.A caught and bowled off Kumble to Ponting,a leg before turned down by Pakistani umpire A M Saheba, the leg before of Ponting that was found missing the leg stumps and Matthew Hayden's caught behind.Does the ICC consider even these many decisions that took place in a single day as a human error?

With all these happening in the very first day of play, it would be fantastic to watch out for what all miracles would happen in the remaining four days.An amazing feat being that these things happen mostly in an Australia-India series, and most in test matches involving Australia.If the referral system is not re-introduced into test matches (not to forget the other forms of cricket also), the game of cricket will not be between 22 players divided between two teams,but between only two umpires.Then, would be similar to boxing or any other 1:1 game.Ha ha ha..

Wow:Even The Royal Challengers Can Upset!

It is really hard to believe in my own eyes at the end of the match,the scoreboard of which read: Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match by 14 runs.This never seemed so when I watched the Chennai Super Kings charging towards the small target of 127.And that too at an astonishing pace when they were found charging at 60/0 and later 85/2.And finally 112/8 after the end of their quota of 20 overs.

Much more amazing was that of Anil Kumble's feat of 3/14 which is the best as far as the Royal Challengers were concerned.Its a dilemma weather to say Royal Challengers as losers or to cite Chennai Super Kings as winners.Because,neither the pitch was found to deceive the batsmen nor there was any resistance from the Royal Challengers Bangalore team to restrict the Chennai Super Kings not even to chase successfully a modest total of 127.

Not being able to that when they were in a comfortable position at 60/0 and later at 85/2.Only three people were found to put up scores of 10+.And Parthiv Patel's effort taking more balls than the runs he scored.I feel it is a perfect answer to the ego of the Chennal Super Kings for having dominated the tournament for some part of it and also for under estimating their opponents in Royal Challengers Bangalore.

A hare and the tortoise race i can say.What?

Royal Challengers......?

Hmm..when the name Royal Challengers come to someone's mind one thing is for sure..either they are considered to be talentless,unlucky,not hard working..etc...But, if one could watch the match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Delhi Daredevils,one difference that could be seen is that the Delhi Daredevils were found to make a tough going when the going got to be tougher and tougher.This was what the Royal Challengers Bangalore were found lacking.Throughout the tournament,all that the Royal Challengers could manage was a shuffle in their batting order and nothing else.Also some selfishness in the bowling department wherein there was a leading bowler in Zaheer Khan who emerged as one of the leading wicket takers though not helping his team win or even save some face for his team.

And this time in the match against Delhi Daredevils,Oh!what a fantastic position they were in when they had a 24 run last over courtesy:Misbah-Ul-Haq.Though not a decent total posted by the Royal Challengers Bangalore,there's no rule that it shouldn't have been defended.Likewise,the best example being the Kolkata Knight Riders who rattled the stumps of the same Delhi Daredevils when the total they were defending was a handy 134.What's something special in Shoaib is that his hand bends legally and that shouldn't have been a major threat-because the same bowler was shown the gallows by Sanath Jayasuriya against Mumbai Indians.

Now,I guess the debate of the hour is the lack of a batsman of the caliber of Jayasuriya?Why are the likes of Jacques Kallis and Misbah (who nearly pulled off a win in the finals of the T20 finals) there for?

And coming to the latter part of the same,a complete control after Sehwag left should have made much use of.For,the Delhi Daredevils were struggling at 123/4 (3 wickets for 33 runs).But...?

All eyes on how to make Anil Kumble a scape goat now have to look out for someone else as the team had him ending up with figures of 2/18 off his allotted 4 overs.A test like stats.Wow!And at last,it is too much late for Goswamy.And Virender Sehwag is really worth the praise for he led the Delhi Daredevils courtesy:19 ball 47.Yet once again missing out on scoring the fastest IPL fifty.So Sad!!!

Too Much For The Royal Challengers' Team

This is the match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Rajasthan Royals which the Rajasthan Royals as expected thrashed the Royal Challengers Bangalore by some relief serving 65 runs (compared to their crushing defeat in the previous matches).The first time when the two teams met in the first round robin stage,the Royal Challengers were royally thrashed by 7 wickets with 17 balls remaining.A modest total of 135 that would hardly worry the team consisting of players of the batting caliber of Yousuf Pathan,Swapnil Asnodkar,Justin Langer,Kamran Akmal and Shane Warne who did wonders in the first match against the Deccan Chargers.

This I bet would have been the worst defeat that Rahul Dravid would have had to think over,for it came despite a mind blowing innings of a 36 ball unbeaten 75.And who wouldn't be? With as many as 6 huge sixes and an equal number of boundaries. Isn't this an almost impossible task as far as Dravid's batting style is taken into consideration?

The bowling done by the Royal Challengers team was all the most fascinating.If not all of them,I bet most of them were full-tosses.None of the bowlers really bothered about maintaining any line or length.Just like the Sehwag saying "If the ball is there to be hit I will go for it"...something like..and the bowlers were just like that..."If the ball is there to be bowled we'll go for it"..no matter what length or line.

Congrats Anil kumble on taking the first wicket of the tournament!And the rest of the Royal Challengers' batsmen failing to cross the two digit mark and my goodness 4 ducks!!Good bowling or poor batting?Well you readers choose..

The next time a team takes on the Royal Challengers Bangalore,I would suggest that the team rest most of its frontline bowlers.Atleast then can the match be interesting?Well not!

The Famous Indian Cricket Tradition Continues AT Motera

I guess everyone would have been upset over team India's hopeless performance against South Africa at Sardar Patel Stadium-Motera.Well the result was worth the disappointment.Well thats always the case with the Indian cricket team.It would be good to spot some stupidity in Indian cricket,when there was a pat on the back for Irfan Pathan for being the top scorer in the first innings where India were bundled out for 76 runs,rather than screwing the batsmen for not having done well.And also some consolation for not getting into the record books for the wrong reasons by settling for a score of less than 75 (India's previous best total,when seen from the bottom).All these were highlighted by the commentary team out there.Its a real frustration that the team is congratulated even on such debacles.

There's a saying "Some things never Change,what-so-ever".And one such thing is the team India in cricket.One good performance shadows the entire series,owing which,the rest of the series is rather forfeited without any good tough fight.The team which saw a batsmen scoring the fastest triple hundred was also found to witness one of the fastest batting collapse-losing all 10 wickets for a score of 76 and in just 20 overs.The scores of the Indian batsmen resembled telephone numbers,except for Irfan Pathan & M S Dhoni.

If all of you fans were delighted over watching the batting display in the first test at Chepauk,I wish one even take a look at the South African innings which was also full of delight from the blades of Hashim Amla,A B DeViliars and so.That was the only kind of pitches where someone like Wassim Jaffer likes to bat on.

And one more point is that,when everything was blamed regarding the pitch for India's batting debacle,it is a pity that the Indians had no bowlers in them to exploit the same like the South Africans.And when it comes to praising Sehwag for his wonderful batting display in the first test,no pitch was considered.Does the pitch change every three hours?And especially if it is India who is at the receiving end?

Finally,weather India wins or loses is a different issue altogether.But,it would be a positive sign if the team(coach & captain in particular) stop blaming each and everything that comes their way rather than putting a better performance in the next.

The Greatest batting Pitch On Earth??

Well the first test between India and South Africa at Chepauk was as all expected a mere draw.If there was one of the greatest innings of his life by Virender Sehwag-who scored his second triple hundred,there was one more best thing in that test.Guess what?Off course it is the pitch that helped batsmen from both sides to belt the bowlers in whatever way they can.And one thing that almost went unnoticed is the batting denacle by Indian batsmen if not for the likes of Virender Sehwag(off course) and Rahul Dravid.

As I've been noticing in the recent past in all those test matches involving India and played in India especially,most of them have been batsmen's paradise.Starting from the home tour against Pakistan late last year-where the second and third test matches proved to be heaven for the batsmen from both the sides.As most of them if not all have mistaken-saying that the opposition fought fire with fire,and with all fingers pointing towards the bowlers,it was a real sorrow that hardly anyone noticed the way the pitch behaved.

Here comes the reason as to why some typical Indian batsmen like Wassim Jaffer, Yuvraj Singh and so on prove their calibre on these tracks while they are found to succumb in Australian and English pitches.And bowlers like Anil Kumble,Makhaya Ntini & co..are found to be at the receiving end of the opposition batsmen.Well its time to change before all cricket say goodbye to watching test cricket.

604 And Counting....

Jan 17th 2008,at the W.A.C.A stadium Perth-India was on the verge of breaking Australian ego once again.The match was even more memorable for this man who took his 600th victim and that too for a winning cause at a venue having made news for its bounce made it all the special.The third spinner and bowler,first Indian and the second bowler from the subcontinent...and the list goes on and on..

Anil Radhakrishna Kumble-who hails from Bangalore made his debut in Aug 1990 vs England at Manchester is one of the rarest bowlers in international cricket who proved all critics wrong.Though not known for his great turn that his Australian and Sri Lankan counterparts enjoy,his record speaks for him.

The man was always sidelined by his captain-especially in one dayers.Even in tests his name never used to appear in the playing probables.This never let Anil lose his confidence.An injury to Harbhajan Singh in the Adelaide test and the then skipper Sourav Ganguly had no other option that to give the shoes to Anil Kumble.Anil made much use of this and proved his selection worth by claiming 5 wickets in that test which India won.

With all other Indian bowlers missing most of the matches than they play,Anil Kumble has never missed even a single test for any reasons since his inclusion after the Brisbane test 2003.In most of India's tours,Anil has emerged as the leading wicket taker since 2003(New Zealand's tour of India 2003).

The only Indian bowler to have taken 500& 600 wickets in test career.The only bowler other than Kapil Dev to have taken 300 or more wickets in tests.The maximum number of caught&bowled and maximum no of lbws...looks like this page is endless.

The England's tour of Sri Lanka 2007 ended the much long fight between Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan.Now,with Anil Kumble's tally standing on 604 wickets,if he continues playing test cricket the way he is now,playing cricket untill 2009,this man can well pass Shane Warne's tally of 708 wickets to become the second highest wicket taker in tests.

Having taken 604 in tests and 337 in ODI's,59 more scalps will make him the second bowler in history to take 1000 international wickets after the Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan.But still thats a long way to go.We all wish you all the best Anil..Great going!!!

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