29.3.06

Cricket: Spinning fortunes.

Do fortunes favour the braves? Or do the braves make their own fortunes? I think everyone if determined enough can make their own fortune. The question is debatable and should be answered in the light of the day. India did make some fortune and pulled victory from the jaws of defeat.
I have all ways maintained this at least for last couple of years, “India is that team that makes a one sided match exciting”. I mean it both ways. I have seen them screwing up some matches which seemed that as though they were in the kitty. But not always. There are some matches like these and some played over the last couple of series, which makes me, see something, which never resembles “Never Say Die”

Just about the Aussies.

They won an away series. “Shane Warne, he does it best when he takes wickets in all.” I managed to tweak the lines if “Notting Hill” starring a Julia Roberts. He just sniffs at opportunity and makes it count big. He took 6 for 86 leading Aussies to a 112 runs victory. I feel sorry for South Africans but they are not doing the right things. Jacques Rudolph will do a better job as the twelfth man then someone at five down. There is so much confusion in their ranks that the whole display is disheartening.
Ricky Ponting will pose a threat or may be surpass Tendulkar’s record of centuries. He is so marvellous to watch on a seeming green track. He fights fire with fire and last couple of calendars can be name after him. He has the advantage of captaining the most successful pair of bowlers Warne and McGrath in the game’s history along with the most prolific all rounder the game has seen, Adam Gilchrist, how I believe will come good in the third test. There are many other superlatives like that of Hayden and Langer and many other. I hope Ricky Ponting does well and breaks Tendulkar’s record of most centuries in a test. Tendulkar’s record of most centuries will be unfathomed for long.

Toss crucial.

England did the right thing by winning the toss and putting India into bat. They might have seen India’s recent performances. No matter who wins the toss, they will put the opposition into bat. Darvid again tried to hold fort. With little success.

Woeful decisions.

Indian team management have taken some woeful decisions. There are two key players in one-day team namely Yuvraj and Kaif. They both are specialist fielders in their own domain. They also happen to be good one-day batsmen with Yuvraj having a penchant for finishes and Kaif having fondness to provide solidity along with suppleness. There have been some wrong decisions, which may be responsible for their ordinary performances. I would have expected them to show good this time round. But alas, they could not. Kaif was kicked out for making ninety and then Yuvraj had a horrid time of it while in the field. He was today out bowled on an indecisive drive and Kaif in search of runs was left gasping as a traveller on seeing a mirage in the dessert. Kaif woes can be traced to he being not promoted to bat in the fourth tie against Pakistan and then he being dropped after making a 91.
It is the case of one being undermined (Kaif), and one being over weighed (Yuvraj); neither is helping the Indian cause.

Tail hai na…

Yes, the Indian lower order batting seems to be doing well this season. I think after fielding, this is seems to be a major plus of our team. The young bowlers are not mere pushover and today contributed to more than 60% of the runs the team made. Gautam Gambhir often tends to get wild with his stroke play. Sehwag looks as timid as a cat on a rainy day. He needs to score runs. The handling of Yuvraj and Kaif needs to relook. Dravid making runs is surety in cricket these days. Fielding was breath taking.

Pathan strikes the edge.

If Dravid making runs is surety then Pathan taking a wicket early in his spell has become a norm this season. He dismissed Strauss for nothing and the script for England was to be followed. He then dismissed Owais Shah who comes prefers talking rather than make his bat do the talking. I hope he realises soon that he is being paid for scoring runs. He has an amusing way of batting home. He hit a glorious drive to the boundary and the bowling might have looked like a walk in park for him. He would not have enjoyed the walk in the park after being dismissed by Pathan with a trademark leg before.

They, Flintoff and Pietersen.

Flintoff and Pietersen have such huge persona. Pietersen is the blue-eyed boy of English cricket who hogged deserving limelight in the past year. Flintoff ride has not been the same. The previous year has been good for him as well. The have a liking for hitting big sixes. They both are vulnerable against spin. They will have an innings in this series, which will make you realize that One-Day is such as batsman game. They both looked in hurry and in control until they got out. They both go out to Singhs. They both displayed what not to do against the spinners.They got out when the score was 117. They both are responsible for this defeat.

Great English collapse.

The English batting collapse is the most common phenomenon in cricket these days. They have a tendency to collapse be it at home or away against fast or spin. I had wanted to seem them collapsing in Test. They did it just once when 5 wickets went down for 17 runs. They did it again today. They lost last seven wickets for 47 runs. A very forgettable display of batting.

Twister Harbhajan.

A twister tends to spin around itself. This twister is a bit different. He comes capped with a proud turban. He loves the English batting, he back himself to bowl them out anywhere. He rocked and the English batting was shell shocked as he took 5 English wickets. The fact that he batted brilliantly to score 37 runs helped him bowling well.He is one more case of being written off.

Alls well that ends well.

I know the series has just started. It was a good win because the bowlers did the bulk of the job. They managed to get scores with bat and then bought English to knees. I consider this match as a good beginning as our batsmen tend to get all the limelight no matter how well the bowlers bowl. If the bowlers defend a small target then the effort has to be applauded.

Markers for Indian victory.

There are two markers for Indian victory in a match. They are fielding, I mean ground fielding and control over extras wides and no balls if these two look impressive then India invariably wins the match. This was the case today. They say the catching was amazing and they just spare 3 runs in extras.

10 comments:

Anirudh said...

Well i certainly agree with ur views. Indians are the best examples when learning "Chaos theory", just one action is enough to win or lose a match!

Sree said...

Hey, really a nice post.
Agree with you on Dravid and Pathan's consistency.
Hopefully India puts up a good performance in the upcoming matches and win this series in a thumping manner!

PuNeEt said...

haan re a bit busy schedule...
thanks for checking out

nice to see india winning :-)

Cheers

Tarun said...

@ Sesh:I dont think England will lose it 6-1.
@ Anirudh:Chaos theory ...yes I guess.
@ Sugar:Hope if only deal on which India can bank on.
@ Ouneet: :)

Ar Ar Ar Arrrrr said...

We were at the clients place and ma colleague was hooked to Cricinfo...he was not aware that Im so against cricket :)

after he switched to that site for the 3rd time...I blasted him to close it down and focus on work...I know I make a very bad PM :D

Hehehehe.....


But then when I heard someone in the office talking about ENG's score ... at like 155/8...we both jumped on the site :D

Anonymous said...

i still dont get it, they somehow impress me!

Sudeep said...

so this means u managed to give ur new job clients a miss n caught up the 2nd ODI.... u know i m more happier coz now i had something to read :)

U really think Ponting will pass Tendlya's record?

I follow cricket but m not into much playing this game. So i had this lil doubt in my head... have u seen Kaif's stance while batting? isnt tht a bit weird?
I like his flexibility on the field though...

the tail-enders r really doing well these days with the bat... better than some of the top-order batsmen

Tarun said...

@ Arz000n: U must allow yourself to atleast tail the score.
@ Harry: they = who?
@ Suddep:Ponting may break Tendulkar's record of centuries in tests.

Venkat said...

well....i do not agree with ur comment on my blog about india's wins not to be regarded ! I thought Sri Lanka put up their best team in the initial part of the series, and only after they lost it, played guys like Tharanga and so on. And if my memory serves me right, this was the same Indian team (plus Ganguly) that lost badly to Sri Lanka in the Indian Oil Cup...so somehow, ur comments seem a bit scrambled.

Secondly, Pakistan were on a rampage. They beat Pakistan 4-1 and were the favourites in my book to win. But the character we showed there was exemplary. So, that goes down the bin too..

Thirdly, England yes, they look more of a club side than an international side. But, as Ian Chappell once said, You can only play against what you are pitted against and that pretty much holds true. A major chunk of this team was involved in that third test where they won, and India had to work their backsides off for these wins. It was not as though it was offered on a platter. We had to do the job nonetheless.

S.Tamboo said...

Hi,

Has any one got the 2004 Steve Waugh's Farewell match awards.
I am looking for only the last parts of the ceremony
Venkat