India’s stupendous win over Ireland (???) gives rise to more questions than answers. All those who follow cricket and some of us Indian team fans have to confess that Indian batting excites us more then our bowling. A team almost chased 338 so I think if there is a batting collapse while we bat first, bowling in its present form will be shredded or second scenario,the wheels coming off from are toothless bowling then the opposition sets us a steep chase and if the top order collapses then an unsavoury result hopes to meet us soon. It will not be ill fate it would be our own misdeeds. If we are praying that our bowling shines once in a while then we must aceept the top order will collapse once in a while.
Yuvraj looking ragged for more than a season now, would be thanking the Irish, and would have treated them with double Patialas of Irish beers in huge mugs. A five-for and fifty made him look ominous. He would do well against the SAfs as well, ball turning away from batting line consisting of Amla, Kallis, De Villiers, Van Wyk, Du Plessis all right hand bat. Yuvraj would fancy his chance considering SAfs collapsed more than once when we were there in South Africa, guess we could trigger another collapse to see of the SAfs, easier said then done though. There are couple of shot that convince me that Yuvraj isn’t in his prime, a flick of Johnston when he moved from 45 to 49 and the shot at which he got out in the match vs England, Yuvraj in his prime would have cleared the boundary by some margin. The interesting question to be asked is, if Yuvraj’s best a thing of the past or is he priming himself to knock the winds out of the opposition?
Harsha Bhogle calls him Khade Khade Pathan. Yusuf Pathan blocks blocks and bangs. I am vying for Pathan-Razzaq-Aridi blast it would be such a fun. Pathan came on after Dhoni went hammered and dented a few over the ropes and without further ado got India couple of points.
Bhajji, exudes no confidence at this point in time, he kept feeding Strauss with cut and sweep, can remember him bowling only two or three deliveries which invited batsmen to drive on the front through covers. At this point in time, even the Aussie off spinner Jason Krezja offers better average and economy compared to Bhajji. The last time when we got to a world cup final, Nehra, Zaheer and Srinath were on fire and had bagged more than a dozen wickets each. Yes, it was South Africa, seamer friendly condition. I think teams like SAf, may be west Indies as well along with possible quarter final teams from other group Pak, Aus, Lanka would fancy having Bhajji bowl to them. Bhajji in this phase of form, he would provide the teams an ideal platform for the death overs where we know we are bound to go in excess of 7.5 to 8 an over (by very conservative estimate). There is minor concern of leaking singles and not rotating the strike enough which is well covered in the shimmering shinning boundary hitting habbits of our batsmen.
Any team winning a toss against India should fancy chasing the score because our bowling is a threat to our batting prowess.
England vs. SAf.
Indians look bunny rabbits on swinging and seaming wickets, SAfs look equally cute on typical Indian wickets where spinners are in charge and make the cherry spin like a top. I remember seeing the English innings, the second ball of the first over of the match that Peterson bowled pitch middle and went past Strauss’ pad wide down leg, if a SAf spinner I turning it proverbial mile the match was not to last full 100 overs. Strauss got out when he skied one to de Villers who took a tumbling catch. Half as good as pie - Pietersen followed Strauss when scored read 3-2. It was 15-3 when bell got out. Then mysteriously Smith took Peterson off the attack that was perhaps one of the turning points of the match. There were a few turning points in the match which happened before the toss took place, Collingwood sitting out, personally I believe whatever his form, he should be batting in the top order, could be a useful bowler. The SAf decided to play Wan Vyk, which is an excellent move. I think the game hasn’t turned so modern that you can do without a specialist keeper. But the fact is SAfs have left their best fire fighters home, Boucher and Albie Morkel, both were worth of their places, their experience, and their record speaks for them. Morgan and Hussey are joining their teams are injuries have forced teams to switch players, wonder if there is any injury concern in SAf would Boucher and Morkel be called for? SAf may pay heavily by dropping Boucher and Morkel. The future will unravel this mystery in the next near future.
SAfs did a U-turn and escort Poms to the victory post.
SAfs seems to be cruising with Amla and Smith providing them a solid paternship, in a low scoring match one wicket can trigger couple of wickets more. Kallis is still searching for runs in the tournament and on the other end De Villiers has already scored back to back centuries in first three games,. SAfs seem to have been caught in a slumber when the slip 4 wickets in a span of three runs, and Poms were right back, Wan Vyk and Steyn Gun did provide a partnership but then Poms saw an opportunity to pull the rug under SAf feet. At some point in time during the match, Poms beating SAfs would have had the same odds as Irish beating Poms.
The Indian side is in desperate search of either Bhajji hitting form soon or some other form of bowling inspiration, chances are thin is bowling reaming hapless and fielding remains a window decoration.
Yuvraj looking ragged for more than a season now, would be thanking the Irish, and would have treated them with double Patialas of Irish beers in huge mugs. A five-for and fifty made him look ominous. He would do well against the SAfs as well, ball turning away from batting line consisting of Amla, Kallis, De Villiers, Van Wyk, Du Plessis all right hand bat. Yuvraj would fancy his chance considering SAfs collapsed more than once when we were there in South Africa, guess we could trigger another collapse to see of the SAfs, easier said then done though. There are couple of shot that convince me that Yuvraj isn’t in his prime, a flick of Johnston when he moved from 45 to 49 and the shot at which he got out in the match vs England, Yuvraj in his prime would have cleared the boundary by some margin. The interesting question to be asked is, if Yuvraj’s best a thing of the past or is he priming himself to knock the winds out of the opposition?
Harsha Bhogle calls him Khade Khade Pathan. Yusuf Pathan blocks blocks and bangs. I am vying for Pathan-Razzaq-Aridi blast it would be such a fun. Pathan came on after Dhoni went hammered and dented a few over the ropes and without further ado got India couple of points.
Bhajji, exudes no confidence at this point in time, he kept feeding Strauss with cut and sweep, can remember him bowling only two or three deliveries which invited batsmen to drive on the front through covers. At this point in time, even the Aussie off spinner Jason Krezja offers better average and economy compared to Bhajji. The last time when we got to a world cup final, Nehra, Zaheer and Srinath were on fire and had bagged more than a dozen wickets each. Yes, it was South Africa, seamer friendly condition. I think teams like SAf, may be west Indies as well along with possible quarter final teams from other group Pak, Aus, Lanka would fancy having Bhajji bowl to them. Bhajji in this phase of form, he would provide the teams an ideal platform for the death overs where we know we are bound to go in excess of 7.5 to 8 an over (by very conservative estimate). There is minor concern of leaking singles and not rotating the strike enough which is well covered in the shimmering shinning boundary hitting habbits of our batsmen.
Any team winning a toss against India should fancy chasing the score because our bowling is a threat to our batting prowess.
England vs. SAf.
Indians look bunny rabbits on swinging and seaming wickets, SAfs look equally cute on typical Indian wickets where spinners are in charge and make the cherry spin like a top. I remember seeing the English innings, the second ball of the first over of the match that Peterson bowled pitch middle and went past Strauss’ pad wide down leg, if a SAf spinner I turning it proverbial mile the match was not to last full 100 overs. Strauss got out when he skied one to de Villers who took a tumbling catch. Half as good as pie - Pietersen followed Strauss when scored read 3-2. It was 15-3 when bell got out. Then mysteriously Smith took Peterson off the attack that was perhaps one of the turning points of the match. There were a few turning points in the match which happened before the toss took place, Collingwood sitting out, personally I believe whatever his form, he should be batting in the top order, could be a useful bowler. The SAf decided to play Wan Vyk, which is an excellent move. I think the game hasn’t turned so modern that you can do without a specialist keeper. But the fact is SAfs have left their best fire fighters home, Boucher and Albie Morkel, both were worth of their places, their experience, and their record speaks for them. Morgan and Hussey are joining their teams are injuries have forced teams to switch players, wonder if there is any injury concern in SAf would Boucher and Morkel be called for? SAf may pay heavily by dropping Boucher and Morkel. The future will unravel this mystery in the next near future.
SAfs did a U-turn and escort Poms to the victory post.
SAfs seems to be cruising with Amla and Smith providing them a solid paternship, in a low scoring match one wicket can trigger couple of wickets more. Kallis is still searching for runs in the tournament and on the other end De Villiers has already scored back to back centuries in first three games,. SAfs seem to have been caught in a slumber when the slip 4 wickets in a span of three runs, and Poms were right back, Wan Vyk and Steyn Gun did provide a partnership but then Poms saw an opportunity to pull the rug under SAf feet. At some point in time during the match, Poms beating SAfs would have had the same odds as Irish beating Poms.
The Indian side is in desperate search of either Bhajji hitting form soon or some other form of bowling inspiration, chances are thin is bowling reaming hapless and fielding remains a window decoration.
No comments:
Post a Comment