Category: Cricket

Pathan is clearly struggling. His pace is dropping by the minute! He bowls at 120s these days! At this pace, Indiajust can’t open the bowling with him anymore. To make matters worse at second change he was belted all around the park! He managed just two overs in the previous match and 4 in the most recent. I suspect he will be dropped for the next match against WI despite his good knock in the first ODI. Without 10 decent overs from Pathan in the Champions trophy, India’s bowling reserves are going to be stressed. Viru, Sachin and Yuvra will have to be regular bowlers and not just backups. Might certainly prove to be better than relying on Pathan based on his current form.

Sreesanth must be having nightmares thinking of his World Cup chances, as this series progresses. He has been dumped for the Champions trophy and is unsure of a place in the team for the next two games! Is he another Tinu Yohanan in the making?

Tendulkar announced his return with bang but India lost. Its unfair to find fault with the little master for a superlative performance. But one can’t miss the eerie stats that India loses whenever Sachin scores!

WI should consider themselves very lucky to have been granted the match. A couple of quick wickets and the WI team could have easily collapsed in the space of two overs.

For the next ODI it might make sense to play Mongia in place of Bhajji. There seems to be little in the pitch for spinners. Mongia, Viru and Sachin can easily account for the fifth bowler.

Its crazy to hold a cricket tournament in Malaysia when the game is hardly popular there. Besides, I think the various boards should have given their second string players a chance. Australia seems to be doing that for the most part.

Btw, why does Australia have 18 players while the other two teams include only 15 players?

Check out this report which refers to 18 players in the Aussie team. ..”Hayden was chosen for his first one-day tour in more than a year on this trip, but he will have to wait for his chance in the large squad of 18, which will appear in four preliminary fixtures over the next two weeks….”

England is consistently losing to Pak in the ODI series. Their bowling looked really bad in the last ODI. Their batting failed in the previous two ODIs. Yet, I think there re positives in all of this. Firstly, I think England’s key players get some much needed rest (assuming of course they recover in time for the Ashes). Flintoff, Harmisson, Hoggard, Vaughn fit this category. Secondly, this opens up plenty of opportunity to unearth some new talent. Dalrymple is certainly a good find. Chris Read has had a good comeback. J Lewis and Broad appear to be good too, though it early to judge. Collingwood continues to look quite reliable.

Trescothick struggling at the top of the order is a huge concern for the English team and it might be a good idea to try out one more alternatives. If dropping him in the ODIs against Pak might be too extreme, it might make sense to try him down the order — open with Bell and try Peterson at number 3 and Trescothick at number 4. The latter approach might help him regain his confidence given that he is missing Champions trophy, his only other Intenational exposure prior to the Ashes.

Check out Nasser Hussain’s analysis of the captaincy, captian-coach relationship and England’s captaincy issue. If you have heard Nasser’s commentary I am sure you’ll agree that he is one of the best minds in the game today.

Brilliant analysis overall and very insightful indeed!

However, I disagree with his comment about Strauss. Firstly, Strauss hasn’t been tested a whole lot on the job. His batting consistency has been very impressive thus far and is sure of a place in the team on his own merit. Besides, one could argue that Flintoff is too critical to the team to shoulder the additional responsibility of captaincy.

Nasser also finds fault with Strauss’ demeanor. Personally, I don’t think captains should fit a certain profile. They can come in various forms and many grow on the job (read Shastri’s (another astute thinker of the game) comments on Dravid. Mike Brearley always fielded in slips and did not have an imposing presence from what I recall.

Strauss in-charge with Flintoff in the team might just re-create the Brearley-Botham kinda magic!

Check out this picture of Kaif batting at the nets. Doesn’t the bat look like its edges have been chopped off? Is this special training to make sure batsman “middle” the ball?

The hearing on the ball tampering issue was scheduled for Fri. But suddenly it was postponed because Madugalle had some personal issues to take care off! This is a master stroke by the ICC that can put even the greatest politicians to shame. Moving the date achieves a number of things.

1. It lets things cool down.

2. It ensures that Pak does not back out of the ODIs and hence helps the English board with the match collections.

3. Pak can’t afford to insist on the hearing before the ODIs. If they did they would be in deep trouble for refusing to play an already planned ODI series. As a follow up to the forfeiture this makes Pak look really bad.

4. Madugalle is such mild mannered guy that even if he returns a month later he isn’t the type who will make any drastic calls. The official incharge remains an easy going guy.

5. ICC comes out completely on top. The hearing will in all likelihood have no impact on the umpires. Inzy will probably endup with a reduced sentence. The matter will be forgotten for the most part after the ODI series.

While the ICC strategy is very clear, one can’t help but ask:

1. Didn’t the ICC know about Madugalle’s unavailability when it scheduled the hearing for Fri?

2. Why is Madugalle the only official who can oversee the hearing especially when he was not even around when it happened? If not being around is a plus why not bring in a “special prosecuter” of sorts!

3. Given the gravity of the issue can’t they assign a special official to oversee the hearing?

4. A team that has been accused of ball tampering could do the same in the ODIs. So why would you not settle the issue before letting the same team play again?

5. Inzy is obviously denying any charges of ball tampering. Considering that the umpire actually granted the penalty runs, it does imply that the team was guilty. How can a team that has been accused of a ball tampering be allowed to continue to play at the international level?

6. The Pak camp has welcomed the extension since it supposedly gives them more time to plan their legal strategy. While this might be true, what happened to Pakistani pride, the insult on the team’s integrity, the flagrant affront on its people etc. etc.

Here are my top 10 thoughts on the recent scandal involving the Pak cricket team and Australian umpire Darrell Hair.

1. Darrell Hair thinks he is bigger than the game of cricket and the cricketers. He has been trying to throw his weight around for too long and deserves to be cut down to size.
2. Darrell Hair could have at least discussed the issue with Inzy before changing the ball or granting the 5 penalty runs. He was obviously trying to act like he was the “boss”.
3. Mike Proctor should have summoned the captains and the umpires and addressed the issue during the break to avoid all the unneccassary drama. He should be docked a few matches for being so spinless and not taking charge of the situation.
4. Darrell Hair must explain his decision and provide the proof. If its valid and substantiated, Inzy and co. should pay the price. If not, Hair must face serious consequences.
5. If Hair’s claim is not substantiated Bill Doctrove must be docked a few matches for being a tagging along with Hair in all his showmanship.
6. Ranatunga deserves credit for his comments on the issue. Most sensible of all I have read so far.
7. It will be useful to know if Duncan Fletcher had lodged a complaint with the Procter when he met him the morning of the eventful day.
8. The ICC must take complaints seriously and act on them unlike they have done in past to avoid such events in the future.
9. It is imperative that the ICC take steps to ensure that similar events don’t occur again (either by instituting serious penalties or some other means).
10. Lastly, the Indian Board should shut up till the events play out and those who are throwing around charges of racism must cool their jets.

The triangular series between India-SL-SA should be called off. It makes no sense to continue especially after SA has bailed out. If the place is unsafe for SA to play how can it be safe for the Indian team?