About: Cricket & Weekend.

Match or Mismatch?

I will leave that for you to ponder upon. The two teams which ended up in the final mismatch were two complete opposite teams in every sense. Aussies on the top of the game for over a decade now. The name of their game plane is consistency of winning. They have won virtually anything and everything wherever international cricket is played. They have won so much that it is a news when Aussies loose. Their batting order on paper is as solid and flexible as any in the recent for that matter past era. Their bowlers are nothing short of teeth grinding menace and they always among wicket. Their fielding is superb. They are now standard against whom you have to scale your team’s performance. The only thing which they could not have laid their hands on would be the Champions Trophy.
The West Indies team however represents completely different end of the spectrum. They are on a virtual decline for I don’t know how long. The West Indies supremacy or cricket I believe is now a faded memory for most. I think their hangover is still lingering. Their fast bowlers are no more fast. They never seem to be rushing the batsmen. They are no more intimidating. Their batsmen always offer some chance. The consistency of loosing is their bane. There is something key ingredient missing.

A flash in the pan start.

The West Indians seemed to have started their innings in the most aggressive of fashions, Chanderpaul and Gayle were not interested in singles they were just going boom boom over the top, cut flicks, pulls, drives all ending up in boundaries or over them McGrath was welcome with a six in his very first over after Bret Lee was beaten black and blue. But then you need to do that for fifty overs. There is some Aussie who will always put his hand up and bail the team out of the rot. Nathan bracken did that today. The it was party time for bowlers as West Indies collapse and their batting order was a set of single figures. Bracken was too good for Gayle and Lara failed so did West Indies. The Aussies got a meager target which proved just a matter of finishing up the formalities.

The root problems.

There are teams which takes out some positives from the defeat problem with West Indies is that they seem to carry the negatives from their victories. Sarwan seem to be all about inconsistency and the only team he can score against is India. Lara remains ever mercurial, here Tendulkar is far better even though last couple of years Lara nd Tendulkar seem to have different fortunes especially in test Arena.
There seems to have no plan, their batting looks good when Gayle fires otherwise they pan out too soon. Their late order is good though. The bowling is not as sharp as it could be. There seem to be no direction in West Indies team they seem to be lost island in the sea of cricket. Lara has had a brilliant last two years mean while injuries and bad form has bought down his stature just by few notches.
Dravid meanwhile has been consistent too. He was ICC captain of the year, rubbish media and public speculation that he is an ordinary captain. Ganguly earned a name of a successful captain only because of good work of Tendulkar, Laxman, Kumble and especially Dravid, who managed to hand over biggest wins for Dada both home and away in Test and one days.

Coming soon ... Ashes to Ashes; Dust to Dust.

The Ashes series is about to start in three weeks time. I will again start wrtting The Ashes Diary. The Aussies starts favourite again. I will not be surprised if English get routed for the first match they tend to get routed in the first especially in The Ashes meanwhile they always seem to win atleast one match in the last two remaining matches.
They atleast did so in last two previous tours.

It is a game of CAT and mice.

I love Tom and Jerry. But there is more to it.The famed exam one which all MBA aspirants in India dream to crack is know just 13 days away. I have been just in touch with the course and will dive dep into settling the dust forever. I am vying for MDI Gurgaon and MICA Ahemdabad (not necessary in this order.) The ere are three sections in CAT examination. Quantitaive ability,Data Interpretation anad Cerbal Ability. The plot seems well covered in Quantitative, Verbal is alright, but like last time Data Interpretation seems more than a spot of bother even thugh my maths is decent. I love Geometry and Arithmetic and hold my ground on Algebra. But DI remains a ghost I cannot fathom and Verbal is all about practice. I hope to sort out my “plans” is this week.