What is test cricket all about?Records or winning matches?I was utterly disappointed when all the attention shifted to Sachin Tendulkar's 100th 100 rather than towards completing a white wash against the WI in the third test..in the bargain we managed to tie a test match which we should have surely won which shows why we are not currently ranked no.1 in the ICC test championship. What a dramatic match it was which we simply threw away one which we should have surely won!Brownie points to the WI for hanging on..
Monday 28 November 2011
Friday 23 September 2011
What a tragedy!
My first T20 live stadium experience and what a match we had!Went down to the wire!Have to admit that Warriors were the better team on the day. I reached there at around 6:30 when the atmosphere was already all charged up and most of RCB's fans were there to see our team practicing. I got myself a seat in the first few rows as the immediate first rows were all taken with RCB flags flying high. It was 7 PM and things started heating up as I kept bragging to all my friends on SMS about how I was enjoying myself at the stadium:D There were hardly any Warriors fans in the ground except for a few neutral foreign spectators here and there who had just come to have a good time watching a T20:) And then as Chris Gayle walked out for practice late there was a huge roar across the ground and we got to see him do some fielding drills. All the RCB players were there out practicing as Jay Sean performed before the start of the toss with the DJ. There was also the other artist from yesterday night's opening ceremony performance and they took a lap around the ground accompanied by their bodyguards and associates, including some sophisticated white girls. Sid Mallya came out too to give a pre-match interview as did Coach Ray Jenings while Vettori had to give many interviews to NZ reporters as well as the local Kannada reporters. The responsibilities of being a captain:) As the toss got underway and Ravi Shashtri made the announcement there was a huge cheer but RCB lost the toss as Vettori called tails wrongly. However, Botha decided to field first to which there was another cheer!Vettori said at the toss that the dew factor could come into play which it did later on as went on to lose the match and our fielding wasn't quite up to the mark as I no wonder whether the dew had something to do with it.
Gayle and Mayank walked out to open and sadly Dilshan was not played as I had predicted. I still don't agree with leaving out Dilshan!Gayle took strike to Tsotsobe and there was some pace as Gayle simply left the ball alone or tucked it away for singles. Mayank though couldn't handle the early pace and top-edged one to close-in fielder. There went our first wicket as Virat Kohli walked out to the middle to a huge ovation:)We stabilized and Gayle hit some huge sixes but sadly got out to a fantastic catch by Botha as he played one shot too many. Out came AB who was his trademark-self but we lost wickets at regular intervals and then came Kaif who struggled to get off the mark to the boos of the crowd but he and Tiwary more than made up for it as they launched into the attack with some lusty blows especially Tiwary. Tiwary holed out though to Boje playing a slog sweep. Captain Daniel walked in and played some good shots before getting out too. We were losing wickets at regular intervals and ended up with 172.
Gayle and Mayank walked out to open and sadly Dilshan was not played as I had predicted. I still don't agree with leaving out Dilshan!Gayle took strike to Tsotsobe and there was some pace as Gayle simply left the ball alone or tucked it away for singles. Mayank though couldn't handle the early pace and top-edged one to close-in fielder. There went our first wicket as Virat Kohli walked out to the middle to a huge ovation:)We stabilized and Gayle hit some huge sixes but sadly got out to a fantastic catch by Botha as he played one shot too many. Out came AB who was his trademark-self but we lost wickets at regular intervals and then came Kaif who struggled to get off the mark to the boos of the crowd but he and Tiwary more than made up for it as they launched into the attack with some lusty blows especially Tiwary. Tiwary holed out though to Boje playing a slog sweep. Captain Daniel walked in and played some good shots before getting out too. We were losing wickets at regular intervals and ended up with 172.
Wednesday 21 September 2011
RCB selections
Hey guys just hang on I just realised we don't need to play 4 spinners in the side when we have already got the class of Dan, Chris and Dilshan! Let's leave out Mohammed and instead play Mayank!And you know what I think Dilshan could be better accommodated at no.4 rather than at the top which hasn't quite worked for us and what with also AB missing. SO HERE GOES MY FINAL XI in suggest batting order:
1.Mayank
2.Chris
3.Virat
4.Dilshan
5.Tiwary
6.Kaif
7.Arun
8.Dan
9.Dirk
10.Mithun
11.Aravind
Perfect 11 cheers!!!!Love to see this team play on Friday!Are u listening Coach Jennings??:))
1.Mayank
2.Chris
3.Virat
4.Dilshan
5.Tiwary
6.Kaif
7.Arun
8.Dan
9.Dirk
10.Mithun
11.Aravind
Perfect 11 cheers!!!!Love to see this team play on Friday!Are u listening Coach Jennings??:))
CLT20
For the match on the 23rd which I have already booked tickets for in Pavilion 3, I think it's going to be a couple of tricky selections for us.
Now let's look at the possible combination we must be looking at:
1. Gayle
2. Dilshan\ Mayank
3. Kohli
4. AB
5. Tiwary
6. Kaif
7. Daniel
8. Van dar wath/Arun Karthik/Syed
9. Dirk
10. Mithun
11. Aravind
Ideally, we'd have Dilshan opening with Gayle but with Zaheer ruled out, the entire equation gets changed since we now have to look at having a back-up for Zak which can be no one else but Dirk. However, the problem is that we can only have 4 foreigners and hence can't accommodate both Dilshan and Dirk. Not fair! See I know AB is our star but this is why I feel we should leave him out for this match. I am so sorry AB but we are left with no choice and I believe you are also short of match-practice whereas Dilshan on the other side has just regained his form and deserves to prove himself for RCB!Arun can keep wickets and we don't need to break the devastating Gayle-Dilshan pair which I think is the best opening pair amongst all T20 teams in the world!We also have Botha to combat with from the opposition and Dilshan plays spin well too so he could take care of Botha at start of the innings to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on Chris who is not very comfortable with spin upfront as we saw with Ashwin the finals:( So RCBians, here is the side I would like to suggest which I think is going to be the most balanced:
1.Gayle
2.Dilshan
3.Kohli
4. Kaif
5.Tiwary
6.Arun(WK)
7.Daniel(C)
8.Syed
9.Dirk
10.Mithun
11.Aravind
P.S.- South Africans struggle against spin especially unconventional spin so all the more reason to have Dilshan there to trouble them in case our front line seamers don't do the job in the absence of Zaheer..I share Dan's concern that we need to play an extra bowler to strengthen our bowling in the absence of Zak. Cheers RCB!!!
Now let's look at the possible combination we must be looking at:
1. Gayle
2. Dilshan\ Mayank
3. Kohli
4. AB
5. Tiwary
6. Kaif
7. Daniel
8. Van dar wath/Arun Karthik/Syed
9. Dirk
10. Mithun
11. Aravind
Ideally, we'd have Dilshan opening with Gayle but with Zaheer ruled out, the entire equation gets changed since we now have to look at having a back-up for Zak which can be no one else but Dirk. However, the problem is that we can only have 4 foreigners and hence can't accommodate both Dilshan and Dirk. Not fair! See I know AB is our star but this is why I feel we should leave him out for this match. I am so sorry AB but we are left with no choice and I believe you are also short of match-practice whereas Dilshan on the other side has just regained his form and deserves to prove himself for RCB!Arun can keep wickets and we don't need to break the devastating Gayle-Dilshan pair which I think is the best opening pair amongst all T20 teams in the world!We also have Botha to combat with from the opposition and Dilshan plays spin well too so he could take care of Botha at start of the innings to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on Chris who is not very comfortable with spin upfront as we saw with Ashwin the finals:( So RCBians, here is the side I would like to suggest which I think is going to be the most balanced:
1.Gayle
2.Dilshan
3.Kohli
4. Kaif
5.Tiwary
6.Arun(WK)
7.Daniel(C)
8.Syed
9.Dirk
10.Mithun
11.Aravind
P.S.- South Africans struggle against spin especially unconventional spin so all the more reason to have Dilshan there to trouble them in case our front line seamers don't do the job in the absence of Zaheer..I share Dan's concern that we need to play an extra bowler to strengthen our bowling in the absence of Zak. Cheers RCB!!!
Thursday 15 September 2011
The memoirs of the Great wall of India
As Rahul Dravid, my favorite player is set to play his last ODI today, an era comes to an end. I grew up watching and hearing about this great wall right from my childhood days when I first saw a cricket match back in the 1996 cricket world cup in my childhood neighborhood. Both my parents were no big fans of cricket but luckily the rest of India was. My first childhood friend, 3 years elder to me in the same neighborhood, was glued to the television set at his home throughout the tournament as were his family members, especially the dad. I used to go to his house every single day in the evening so that we could play together outside but used to get pissed off when all h used to do was stay at home and watch India's matches. I couldn't understand the passion back then I was too young..hardly 6 or 7. I had to wait till the next World cup in 1999 to actually get into the spirit of cricket.
3 years down the line, another World cup was held in order to make up for the delayed World cup after a gap of 5 years back in 1992 which Pakistan had won.Maybe it was the childhood nostalgia of 1996, or maybe it was the sheer fascination towards the game, I got glued to the action myself just like my friend had done back in 96, and hence started my great love and attachment with the great game of cricket. India struggled initially losing to South Africa and Zimbabwe in their first two league matches. What followed was a mixed bag as India managed to win their next three league matches and make it to the super sixes. One man stood out for India in the World cup and that man was Rahul Dravid. He scored back-to-back centuries against Kenya and Sri Lanka and got involved with Saurav Ganguly in a record 300+ 2nd wicket partnership, which I still feel was the best ever partnership forged in a ODI match. India went on to make 370 in their alloted 50 overs and defended successfully. This was also the time when Karnataka cricket was making its mark with the likes of Javagal Srinath, Venkatash Prasad and none other than Anil Kumble. India didn't do too well in the super sixes losing to Australia and New Zealand. They did defeat Pakistan though as they always do at the World cups but failed to make it to the semis unlike Pakistan who went on to reach the finals thanks to their strong bowling unit who could swing the ball like anything at a great pace and that was exactly what was required in England. One man however was consistent throughout the tournament and was eventually even named in the World cup 1999 XI as also being shortlisted for the player of the tournament which went to Lance Klusener from SA eventually. Dravid was one of the highest scores in the tournament and when most of the other batsmen in the team including the Great Sachin Tendulkar were struggling, Dravid held his own thanks to his picture-perfect technique. He has the best record by an Indian batsmen over-seas complimenting this fact. This was symbolic of the times to comes where Dravid continued to be India's most reliable batsmen and I would even rate him as greater than Sachin Tendlukar in the longer format of the game owing to the crucial role he played at no.3 which Sachin only had to consolidate coming in next at no.4. Dravid's job was the toughest but he carried it off in style. I think the biggest loss to Indian cricket came in 2008 in the VB series when Dravid was dropped from the ODI team including Saurav Ganguly, a ODI great himself. I fail to understand this move even today as Dravid was still amongst the fittest and best ODI players even though he was well past 30. However as they say everything happens for the good and Dravid created a different niche for himself in the longer format, prolonging his career.
As destiny would have it, owing to the multiple injuries, Dravid had to be drafted into the ODI squad for the ongoing ODI series in England speaking something about the fitness of the man, when all others around him were falling pey to injuries Dravid hold the distinction of playing the longest number of continuous matchs for India. He also played his first and only T20 this series where he scored 3 consecutive and how I miss him in RCB as I thought he was a fabulous T20 player too. As he is set to play his last ODI today and bid adieu to one-dayers, my salute to this iron man of Indian cricket and hope that he makes up for the disappointments of the past by scoring a century on his last outing. You are our hero Rahul, we love you and pray you go out on a high. Just because you didn't get to play too many ODIs in the last 3 years doesn't make you any less of a One-day legend and just because we had a disappointing 2007 World cup doesn't make you all responsible for it as we all know the politics behind Indian cricket. A honest man like you can never survive at such a cut-throat post. Thee is noble like Brutus and we hold no grudge against you. Cheers to you champion!
3 years down the line, another World cup was held in order to make up for the delayed World cup after a gap of 5 years back in 1992 which Pakistan had won.Maybe it was the childhood nostalgia of 1996, or maybe it was the sheer fascination towards the game, I got glued to the action myself just like my friend had done back in 96, and hence started my great love and attachment with the great game of cricket. India struggled initially losing to South Africa and Zimbabwe in their first two league matches. What followed was a mixed bag as India managed to win their next three league matches and make it to the super sixes. One man stood out for India in the World cup and that man was Rahul Dravid. He scored back-to-back centuries against Kenya and Sri Lanka and got involved with Saurav Ganguly in a record 300+ 2nd wicket partnership, which I still feel was the best ever partnership forged in a ODI match. India went on to make 370 in their alloted 50 overs and defended successfully. This was also the time when Karnataka cricket was making its mark with the likes of Javagal Srinath, Venkatash Prasad and none other than Anil Kumble. India didn't do too well in the super sixes losing to Australia and New Zealand. They did defeat Pakistan though as they always do at the World cups but failed to make it to the semis unlike Pakistan who went on to reach the finals thanks to their strong bowling unit who could swing the ball like anything at a great pace and that was exactly what was required in England. One man however was consistent throughout the tournament and was eventually even named in the World cup 1999 XI as also being shortlisted for the player of the tournament which went to Lance Klusener from SA eventually. Dravid was one of the highest scores in the tournament and when most of the other batsmen in the team including the Great Sachin Tendulkar were struggling, Dravid held his own thanks to his picture-perfect technique. He has the best record by an Indian batsmen over-seas complimenting this fact. This was symbolic of the times to comes where Dravid continued to be India's most reliable batsmen and I would even rate him as greater than Sachin Tendlukar in the longer format of the game owing to the crucial role he played at no.3 which Sachin only had to consolidate coming in next at no.4. Dravid's job was the toughest but he carried it off in style. I think the biggest loss to Indian cricket came in 2008 in the VB series when Dravid was dropped from the ODI team including Saurav Ganguly, a ODI great himself. I fail to understand this move even today as Dravid was still amongst the fittest and best ODI players even though he was well past 30. However as they say everything happens for the good and Dravid created a different niche for himself in the longer format, prolonging his career.
As destiny would have it, owing to the multiple injuries, Dravid had to be drafted into the ODI squad for the ongoing ODI series in England speaking something about the fitness of the man, when all others around him were falling pey to injuries Dravid hold the distinction of playing the longest number of continuous matchs for India. He also played his first and only T20 this series where he scored 3 consecutive and how I miss him in RCB as I thought he was a fabulous T20 player too. As he is set to play his last ODI today and bid adieu to one-dayers, my salute to this iron man of Indian cricket and hope that he makes up for the disappointments of the past by scoring a century on his last outing. You are our hero Rahul, we love you and pray you go out on a high. Just because you didn't get to play too many ODIs in the last 3 years doesn't make you any less of a One-day legend and just because we had a disappointing 2007 World cup doesn't make you all responsible for it as we all know the politics behind Indian cricket. A honest man like you can never survive at such a cut-throat post. Thee is noble like Brutus and we hold no grudge against you. Cheers to you champion!
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