20.3.06

Cricket: A ray of hope for the English.

I want to reiterate my point. India is no graveyard for fast bowlers. The indifferent bounce works very much to the disadvantage of Indian batsmen who tend to drive away from the body on deliveries, which are not exactly volleys or fend off some short pitchers. Then there is odd bounce from out of now here. Hoggard know from personal experiences what an old ball could do.

The day that went yesterday; the sporting Sundays.
The sporting Sunday churns up great opportunity to relax and unwind, sit easy and have a breather. One may have hot pakodas or Samosas with a few chillers and enjoy the show. The last Sunday was not for the champions of there sport. Schumacher did not win a pole position. Chelsea were struggling against a do you unknown Fulham (?). Lara made just a single run in each innings against New Zealand. Tendulkar also had similar fortunes.

Tendulkar come out of shadows.
He was booed after being dismissed for one in Wankhede. Tendulkar again dismissed by second-string bowler James Anderson. It was a nothing shot really. I would have not minded if he was out on a drive but he was out on a “nothing” shot. The daggers are out for him. Could anyone imagine Tendulkar ever struggling for runs? Look at this way, Tendulkar never ever suffered an extended rough patch, when even getting to 20 seems to be a match winning innings. He does so towards the end of the career. This creates an obvious perception that he is all over. The proof that he is not over is the fact that he scored runs in O.D.I. series against Pakistan. Hence, the argument that he cannot make runs goes out of the window. Is he 100% fit? I think he should not play in the upcoming ODI series against England. He should unwind; let the weary mind have a few peaceful nights of sleep without a worry of having nets tomorrow. There is an upcoming series against West Indies. It will be a stern test for him to get India an away series victory.
Rahul Dravid making consistency his mantra keeps on scoring runs aplomb a Tendulkar’s recent bad patch is often compared with the consistency of Dravid in past few years.

“Courage is not about going on when you have strength; courage is going on when you don’t have strength.”

English did well.
It was sad to see that to see Owais Shah miss a century. He has a different technique of playing. I think he could be out before but no matter what it is important to score runs no matter what. The English again squandered their chance of getting a bigger score. The first winning score could have been bigger by few more runs. Munaf Patel turned it on when he claimed a couple of wickets off yorkers. It was sheer delight. Owais Shah tried to avoid the obvious before getting out to a very good catch. If ever you want to gauge how India played take a note of extras and the chances converted. If things provide a pretty, picture then India romp home winners.

Dravid called the correct shots.
Indian batsmen were struggling against the English bowlers in conditions that were ideal for batting, afternoon sun, firm pitch. I mean just imagine Indian batsmen on a green Wankhede wicket on the first morning. I think he did well to win the toss and electing to bat.

Yuraj start singing.
This is My Point of View. I do not prefer seeing Yuvraj play in tests. He will struggle in test no matter how well he is playing in One-Days. I draw an analogy that Yuvraj is like an item number in a Hindi movie. The items numbers are necessary to have but do not always serve any purpose. It looks good until it lasts. The whole point is it does not last too long. He is a different player. He actually plays medium pace well. But his footwork is not the greatest and so he struggles against spinners at most times.

Reality TV or Virtual Reality?
I think the whole concept sucks. I never have the hang of it. The whole “ronna dhonna” is so weird. The recent Indian Idol opened the reality of reality TV. The programme is recoded couple of days before and then people are asked to send SMS and select a winner amongst the contestants for an event which has already happened. I think it stinks and I have never ever seen a reality TV shows because they stink and suck at the same time. I think NEWS channels are the best reality TV. I mean people come on news shows the NEWS anchor tries to put the scripted words in the mouth of the speaker. The NEWS shown on TV sometimes makes me think am I living in a failed state? We are a thriving economy for God Sake the only country that may balance the Chinese boom.
If there is now NEWS in the day the NEWS readers seems to have drooping shoulders. The whole exercise seems to be one for sadist. I prefer CNBC though. They do not provide expert opinions on most things and just describe whatever important happened.

Day three at lunch.
Dhoni played couple some power stamped shots after being hit on the head by a Freddie delivery. The amount of pace he generated is amazing. He is the quickest bowler on display. Yuvraj Singh came in last evening. He struck a few boundaries. Rahul Dravid for sometime struggled to rotate the strike. Yuvraj did not add much to his overnight score. Dravid got out after making a very stubborn 52. I think India should actually in a bit of danger. I do not think Flintoff will not enforce the follow on if the situations arrive. India has to avoid the follow on which they will according to the latest score. The Indian batting’s dearth of runs is such a big let down and does not provide much impetus to me as a spectator when upcoming tours are in West Indies and return series in England.

2 comments:

Sudeep said...

I agree with the title of this post...
last nite i tuned into NDTV n Siddhu n Boycott were discussing the same thing...
if the English manage to bundle out the Indians today then they might see the light at the end of the tunnel.. just now cricinfo is showing here tht Dhoni hit 3 consecutive boundaries n got run-out on the ball which he hit the 3rd boundary... i m stumped dude!!

It was a sad sight seeing Tendulkar go back at such a delivery n sadder tht Mumbai booed him away... yet i will say
Form is Temporary n Class is Permanent

Reality TV sucks big time... the talent hunts r a farce n just money-minting factories for the producers n channels

btw, Dravid won n elected to field na...

Tarun said...

@ Sudeep: What if England had won the toss and were in a similar position. You need to look at the fact our bowlers kept the run rate in check.