Pakora Korner

Its a pity that the weather intervened. I think this match is over for the Aussies. There will be pockets of excitement (weather permitting) but this test will most likely end in a draw or an English vitory. The pressure and frustration of the repeated weather breaks (plus some excellent attacking bowling by England) seems to have crushed the Aussie hopes of a large total. It will be interesting to see how the Aussie deal with this decline of their cricketing fortunes after this test.

Its very interesting to see how the Aussies are coping with stress/pressure. Just look at all the finger pointing that has started to happen. Ian Chappell, Rod Marsh, Dean Jones, Slater, Benaud, Hughes (to name a few) have all joined the clatter for changes. On the eve of a defining moment in their cricket history it is very very evident that their entire cricketing establishment is shaken and worried. Under these circumstances, it will be truly amazing if the Aussie team can pull off a victory. I suspect they will rise to the occasion (my prediction:-)

Day 1: What an exciting days play! Brilliant batting from Strauss. This guy is a top class player. Hats off to Warne. He is a true genius. Too bad none of the other Aussie bowlers could provide any comparable support from the other end. Lee and Tait were particularly bad, I thought with so many super fast juicy deliveries all over the place! I think the Aussies are going to pay the price for over-bowling Warne today. If the Aussies can wrap up the rest of the English wickets before a score of 350-375 then they have a good chance of fighting their way back into this test. If England cross the 400 mark, the Aussies will be under severe pressure. Hayden could be playing his last test!

Team Composition: It sounds like England has gone into this test with a defensive mindset by bringing in Collingwood for Simon Jones (a part time bowler for a strike bowler!). This could backfire on them as the test progresses. They are going to miss Jones’ wicket taking ability especially if the famed Aussie batting line up begins to strike form. As for the Aussies, they have stuck to the same team. Ponting seems to have decided to swim or sink with the same team rather than make changes at this stage.

All in all, the next few days are going to be exciting….

As expected by most Indian cricket fans, India lost the final to NZ in the Videocon Tri-series. When the batting clicks, the bowling fails, otherwise the fielding fails, else everything fails. The biggest positive from this tour is that JP Yadav definitely deserves to be in the team as the all-rounder/fifth bowler. Next, Dhoni can certainly help speed up things in the last 10-15 overs. He has proved that more than once and can be counted to deliver in the future.

Venu lost a good chance to prove himself and might find himself dumped for good. Kaif and Yuvraj have extended their survival lease by the odd good performance. Agarkar fans now have more ammunition to fight his cause. Dumpimg Dravid from the captaincy seems to have taken its toll. He probably thinks he has had enough scoring runs under Dada and can keep his place without super performances. Lastly, India is certainly missing Sachin and his all round skills.

All in all, the Indian team is going through a lousy phase. Despite so much talent, a cricket playing nation with so many resources continues to fail. Don’t know what exactly it is, but something has to change. If it doesn’t, the same story will continue through to the World Cup in 2007.

NZ rested Shane Bond for the match and that made all the difference. Struggling Indian batsman batted like champions. It was a smart move to rest the star bowler in my opinion. He’ll be fresh and hungry to have another go at the Indian batting.

NZ’s bowling without Bond and Vettori is pretty mediocre. On the other hand, when Bond does the job of putting serious pressure on the batsman from one end, the other bowlers start grabbing wickets from the other despite bein mediocre by themselves. In any case, this victory will give India some much needed confidence going into the finals. It is great that Dhoni played a useful innings to finish up the match for India. The final acceleration is something that India has been badly lacking. The fielding in particular was impressive especially the run outs.

If India win the finals, then all the complaints about Ganguly and co. will be promptly forgotten and Dada will be firmly in control once again.