What the heck!

How could they lose? I was cent percent certain that India are going to whack the Aussies in the one-day series. I was about to blog floridly on that, before the series had started. And I had my reasons and beliefs. Good that I didn’t write, for it doesn’t feel good to eat your words.

But I must vent out my anger, rather say, my frustration. Have no doubts, this Indian team is amongst the best, probably the best, on talent terms, in the current international circuit. Have a look at the top 7 batters, and it should send a shiver down the bowlers. Bowling and fielding are not of the commensurate standard, but they look so because they are not executed properly on field. Somehow this team doesn’t want to excel. They take one step forward, and then two backwards.

How could we lose the Mohali and Hyderabad one-dayers? I can’t fathom it yet. Ponting would have been smirking. These guys are the same chokers of the late 90’s. Sachin out – the rest of the team follows. Oh! I shouldn’t have mentioned that. Why it happens with Sachin? I was in my school, when Chennai 1999 had happened. I haven’t been able to get over that yet. How will I get over Hyderabad?

But as I say and write each time India underperforms, life goes on. But somebody please tell those buggers, they are only good if they improve; life circles and teaches in funny ways, even to the lordly Cricketers.

A painful death !

What an excruciating moment! You have left any hope, but after a while you come and see Australia seven down for 176. Then Johnson too goes. Pakistan are favourites to seal the contest. India too in the meanwhile has rolled Windies out for 129. Is a miracle going to happen?

Alas! it doesn't happen with India. I knew this, and was petrified. But hope is another name for us followers of Indian Cricket team, however far-fetched it might seem. Second by second I was hitting the refresh button of cricinfo or cricbuzz to pray for the 9th wicket. It never came. But more than the defeat, I am angered by the sudden glimmer of hope that had taken over me. It was a painful death. Pakistan tried hard, but if they ever wanted to excoriate India, they couldn't have done any better.

Anyway, we shouldn't be looking that far. Fault lies with the Indian cricket team. They never looked like winning, and deserved to go. As I write, they are struggling even against West Indies. Phew! But as someone has said, "Life goes on. " So will mine.

A Tale of Two Captains

Not for nothing do the courageous win. They win to reemphasize that courage always courts success. And courage is more often than not exhibited through the daily demeanours.

Watch any exhibit of Younis Khan or MS Dhoni. You will nod; they are men with difference, full of confidence and abreast with reality. Not brash but demanding, not comatose but cool, and not flaunting but florid. You can actually view the ideal man possessed in them.

No wonders they are successful captains too. MS started with the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, when nobody had given his team a chance. But his real metamorphosis happened in the Australian tour of 2008, when he led the team to lift the one-day trophy there. His record has been nothing sort of sensational, compared to Indian records hitherto. Test victories against Australia, England, New Zealand are some indeed great feats within a short span of time. Add to that the phenomenal one-day victories streak, so much so that he will lead the world’s number one team tomorrow.

Younis too started his captaincy with the Twenty20 World Cup win in 2009. But I think he should have donned the role much earlier. Actually just after the One-Day World Cup in 2007, in the place of Shoaib Malik. Pakistan’s cricket went nowhere during Malik’s captaincy. Judge my confidence and success barometer with the droopy face and stunted utters of Malik. Younis is much more on-the-chin personality, never dithering to state the obvious, even if trifling. His ‘Twenty 20 is a fun’ remark drew a lot of flak, but he won the World Cup, to rub in the face of all those detractors. His subsequent retirement from Twenty20 only exhibited his ken of priorities in life and cricket.

Tomorrow these two duel it out in Centurion. Believe me, more than the match between the sides, this will also be a test between them. Come what may the result, I am sure they both will battle each sinew to win it for their county. A cricket connoisseur can’t ask for more. I hope and wish that MS wins, and don’t be surprised if he had to really slog it out to earn it, because of a similar character on the other side in the captain’s jersey.

Congrats England !!!

Though I couldn't follow the last two days at the Oval, the result was good enough to make me happy. Now the world order is settled; a new war for world domination is on. Nothing could be more gratifying.
So, England rejoice for the moment, and please take the one-dayers seriously. New Zealand, start making some runs. India, concentrate on your bowling; you won't be able to make the semi-finals of Champions Trophy if the pacers don't perform well.

Under Cook' & Kat'ch

Why is nobody talking about Cook and Katich? People and Things are helter-skelter over Flintoff’s knee, Pietersen’s Achilles, Hughes’ ouster, Aussies pace-bowlers selection etc etc But they have gone surreptitiously quiet over these guys.

Only things I have heard about them this Ashes are, “Cook has a problem with his footwork, and hence more prone to LBWs. Katich is a sort of ungainly-nudger player who makes other batsmen look good.” The very oft-mentioned phrases about them.

Hello, aren’t they part of the team? Are they scoring runs? Apart from a crisp 95 at Lord’s, Cook has had a very average time in the middle. Katich too after his century in Cardiff has looked uninspiring. But they have just managed to escape the spotlight.

I believe it is time for England to haul up Cook. He is a fantastic player, no better demonstrated by his century in his first test against India. But he has hit mediocrity of late. His technical deficiency apart, he has also started looking awkward on the crease. He has fared no better in getting a start and squandering it than Bell or Bopara. But surprisingly he hasn’t even copped an earful.

Katich on the other hand has reeled off a lot of runs in his last few matches, but still have they been scored when they mattered? I don’t think that he has played well enough on sporting pitches. May be his unattractive play elicits more ungenerous response from everyone, including me, but his efficacy in times of need is open to question.

I hope they come good in the next test, not only for the sake of their teams but also for the spectators. The Oval nevertheless promises to be a mega-stage. What a delight it would be if the match dishes out a fairytale finish in the last over of the match, with England hopefully on the winning side.

The Ashes are here ! Woo..oo..ooh

However distanced he might be, if he watches cricket, he can’t forget the Ashes series of 2005. Even though, it didn’t involve India, that series remains one of the big highlights of my entire cricket viewing career. It was a cricketing emancipator for England, built on the heroic metaphors of sporting gild. Actually, it wasn’t just for England, but for the whole cricket watching world.

Such had been the domination of Australia that it was pure pity to watch teams being flayed by them. Sorry for the Aussies, but if the word ‘schadenfreude’ was ever invented with something/someone in mind, it might have been for them only. Everyone’s second team thus becomes the opponent playing them.

It wasn’t the only reason why that series was so monumental; it was also because of the sheer quality of cricket. Following Mcgrath’s demolition of Poms at Lord’s, nobody could have guessed what was to follow. A badly taken step by the bowler, and things turned topsy-turvy at Edgbaston. England’s first-day total of 407 of only 80 overs was a grand statement, even if they won just by 2 runs, that too arguably by quirk of fate. Ponting’s heroics on the last day in Old Trafford saved the Aussies for later fight. But it was in Trent Bridge that things culminated for me. I was watching England chase just 129 in the fourth innings. But the master spinner, Warne, had gone straight into them. Lee too was generating some much needed speed (Flintoff’s wicket was a gem). But things somehow trudged on for England. When Giles clipped the ball for a couple to secure the victory, we all were jumping in joy at the college TV room. It was a fantastic carnival of sports. Though I couldn’t watch Pieterson’s heroics on the last day in the next Test match at the Oval, I knew it was destiny of triumph which was always written for the Englishmen.

It is so exciting to rewind those moments here. But alas, we get those types of fairytale series only once in a script. If only, that script is extended for this series too. It would be just awesome. Sorry Oz, even if they are much weakened now, England would again be the team to cheer for me and most of us, neutrals. I suspect England just might scrape through, on account of their better bowling attack. If Lee and Johnson don’t fire (ominously Lee has got some of his lethal speed and reverse-swing back), they can’t take 20 wickets soon enough even on a good wicket. But you never know the Poms too. Someone has to just scream, Adelaide, Adelaide, Adelaide. I hope they switch off their ears for this word for the next two months. Go England go, we are all English for the time being.

PS:-

1> Congrats India for winning the one-day series in West Indies, even if they were way off-colour. But leeway must be given to those fatigued souls. Go and have a rest, and blast the Champions Trophy.
2> Much excitement in Pak-SL series too. Mohammad Yousuf’s century was as smooth as the man himself. Low first-innings score, and you have a real interesting match on hand. Kudos to the pitch creator too, after those ultra-nonsensical pitches in Pak earlier this year. My guess: SL victors, again just by a whisker, on account of their better bowling attack.
3> WI- Bangladesh series have a serious threat of being washed away by both other high-profile cricket series and the unfriendly weather deities. Hope Bangladesh put up a good fight, but I expect Gayle-backed WI to outclass them.

Dil Dil Pakistan

I feel like a Pakistani today. And it is quite strange. Such is the power of cricket, you can say. And also its ability to unfailingly align sorrow and joy in equal measure.

In the first edition of T20 World Cup, two teams – India and Pakistan, who had become ridicules after being eliminated from One-Day World Cup earlier in the year, contested a memorable final. This year too, the two finalists – Pakistan and SriLanka, were cases of immense aptness, just for their horrific encounter with wishers of death on that inglorious day. Take into account the ravages going around in the two countries, Pakistan in particular. And it looks purely angelical.

It is such a circumstantial, and in that respect, unfortunate time that we have to pronounce these human-spirit-raiser rhetorics, rather than actual cricket, to savour the game. But somehow now every aspect of life has become interlinked. So, right from the day, India got eliminated, and Pakistan got into the semi-finals, I became a tacit but virtuous supporter of Pakistan.

I missed most of the final match today, but could watch the defining last few overs. Afridi has never been rated as highly by outsiders as done by his countrymen, but today he was a limelight. In fact, he has been throughout the tournament. But the biggest credit should go to the bowlers- the quintessential Pakistani breed. Umar Gul looked like an incarnation of Wasim-Waqar era, and watching Ajmal bowl often generated a vicarious feeling about Saqlain. In short, it was awesome to watch the unpredictability of Pakistan, and that in itself, means Pakistan cricket is healthy. If only, they can carry on this mercurial ethos. Sometime later, sanity will return in Pakistan mainland too- I am sure, but they will have much to thank to this team and time to act as a beacon in this pallidness of gloom.