Silly M(a)id-on

India vs South Africa…world number 1 and 2…my two most favourite cricket teams..yeah, this is going to be awesome!

I don’t know why I am so fond of South Africa. It is not like we have a particularly great record against them. It’s not like they are an awesome team..they do tend to choke a lot. Is it because my earliest memory of cricket is that series back in ’92? Perhaps. But whatever the reason might be, they are here and we have delicious contest at hand.

(A lesson in history of these two teams wouldn’t be amiss here, so here you go.)

India goes into this series with a near inexperienced middle order. Rahul Dravid is injured thanks to Shahadat Hossein…

(Shahadat, you are one useless fellow. You can’t even bowl a bouncer properly and you call yourself a fast bowler?? And now Dravid will not be able to play against SA thanks to your uselessness!! WTH!! Test matches are a rarity anyways, and now I’ll have to wait till the IPL to see Dravid in action again…the IPL…do you realise how painful that is for me?? You better not get within 50 feet of me in your lifetime..or I promise..bad things will happen to you…I hope you have a rotten 2010…I hope that you don’t get any wickets this year and get dropped from the team..yes, this is my curse!!)

Sorry, where was I?

Yes, so as I was saying, RD is out because of his jaw and Yuvi and possibly VVS are out too. This means that we get a little peek into the future of Team India with Badri and Vijay and possibly Sharma getting a look in. I am not too happy about playing an opener at #3, but I guess asking for Pujara would be expecting too much from the selectors. And anyways, the BCCI did one good thing by at least scheduling a couple of tests, so one should not be greedy. Also, Vijay has done well with the chances he has got so far. And it is not unheard of in India for a player to bat in a completely different slot than he is used to. So, I can live with this.

Badri, I am happy he is getting a chance to stake his claim for the future. Whether he is able to do anything about it remains to be seen. Sharma, though, does not inspire much confidence in me. He might be immensely talented, but I feel he needs a year or two in the domestic circuit to learn how to do justice to his ability. To learn how to construct an innings. My choice for that slot would have been Kaif. But the lesser I think about that option, the better it will be for me coz I don’t see it happening.

Bowling now. I suppose the lineup should read Zak, Ishant, Bhajji and Mishra for tomorrow? Hope to see Ishant bowl well and Mishra out-bowl the dart-thrower.

For a team I claim to be a huge fan of, I am embarrassingly ignorant of their batsmen. Yes, so Graeme Smith is one of the mainstays. And so is Kallis (By the way, why does everyone hate Kallis so much? What has he done?). I hear good things about AB too. So I suppose they are the ones to look out for?

And their bowling strength lies in their seamers. Morkel, Steyn and Parnell. If at all there are some seam-friendly conditions, a Morkel-Steyn vs Sehwag-Gambhir contest should be riveting stuff.

I am hopeful for an intense competition on-field like Ind vs Aus usually is, but without the nasties.

Gentleman, play!

The Indian and Sri Lankan teams are in love. Or the respective boards are anyway. Nothing else can explain these talks of another series involving these two and NZL for later this year.

They have been having an affair for a long time now. These seemingly “casual” meetings here and there. It reminds me of Monica and Chandler hiding their relationship in the beginning, with the whole “Oh, you are doing laundry tonight? Me too!! Let’s do it together” thing.

Only,  it isn’t half as funny as those guys were. My feelings are aptly summarised here.

Stop, seriously.

What do you do when you are at the cusp of making history? When you know there are just a few runs separating you from a record that even The Don could not manage? Mortals clamp down on the scoring. They play carefully, try not to do anything silly. If you are Sehwag though, you just keep playing the way you know best.

What do you do then if you lose out on the record by a whisker? You are pained, you throw your bat about in disgust, you are extremely disappointed and tell everyone as much. If you are Sehwag though, you go out with a smile on your face. You acknowledge the fact that there was a record for the taking, that you missed an opportunity, but are not overly concerned. “There is always a next time”, you say.

I like that. There is a certain amount of selflessness in this approach. I like the fact that Sehwag is not too concerned about making and breaking records. It tells me that he will not alter the natural flow of his game just because he is near a milestone. Good for the team!

Congratulations and well done on the 293, Veeru. Veeru aur Jai (victory) ki jodi bani rahe!

…how it felt to watch helplessly while a few terrorists went on a killing spree for 3 days

…how sadness turned into rage on hearing the same old cliched quotes, on seeing the same old inefficient response to crisis…the whole “I cannot eff-ing believe this is happening”

…how bravely a few people fought, regardless of being ill-equipped to do their job

…how a few went above and beyond their call of duty to help those in need

…how life changed dramatically for a few, who lost people they loved

…the promises I made to myself, what I can do to play my part in ensuring this does not happen again.

To all who were affected by 26/11…I haven’t forgotten anything.

India does it…so does Bangladesh…Pakistan does it too, and quite spectacularly at times I might add. C’mon…don’t spoil the subcontinental brotherhood. Self destruct, wouldja??

Let’s get The Preview bit out of the way first.

Sri Lanka arrive in India after a gap of four years with thoughts of opening their test account there. On the other hand, Indians probably have revenge on their mind, after Ajantha Mendis messed with the heads of their world class batsmen last year, and sent them to a 2-1 defeat. The other issue that keeps coming up of course is the number 1 spot on ICC rankings…which is a bit much because regardless of who wins this series, South Africa will surely pound England later in December and reclaim their #1 spot. But that’s ok. There is test cricket on the menu finally, and India is playing..after what seems like an overkill of T20s and ODIs, what more could I ask for?

A few things have changed since these 2 countries played each other last. Ganguly and Kumble no longer represent India at the International level. Vaas doesn’t play for Sri Lanka anymore. Bowling well and taking wickets has become incidental to Harbhajan Singh..his primary role is that of a batsman now. Sangakkara is showing a lot of “aggression” on the field these days, so unlike the “gentle, mild-mannered Sri Lankans”. And Mendis seems to have lost his mysterious aura, so much so that he doesn’t find himself in the team every now and then.

It should be an interesting series. As Sangakkara said, there are reputations to be made. The bits that interest me are all related to India (yeah, I’m pretty one-dimensional like that)

Will Dhoni show the courage to give Harbhajan the boot finally?

Will Yuvraj cement his place in the test side?

Will Tendulkar enter the 21st year of his career with a good series?

Will Sehwag and Gambhir shrug off their indifferent ODI form and shine?

Will Dravid do well?

Will India’s pacers find their bearings?

Will M&M be mauled? (Yes please!!)

We’ll know pretty soon.

Onto Match 1, Day 1 then..aka The Review.

From 32/4 to 385/6, Dhoni must be a relieved man. By the time I got up today, India’s score was around 120/4. Not the greatest of starts, but I was quite pleased to see Dravid’s half century then. Didn’t realise until much later just how big a hole India had dug for itself earlier in the day, courtesy them being generous to another debutant some newbie with like the longest name ever….honestly guys..you have got to stop doing that!!

(Update – Just got to know that W’s debut match was in 2007, against England..Thanks NC)

(And dear Mr. and Mrs. Welegedara. I know it is probably none of my business, but…Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanga Welegedara…seriously??)

Dhoni and Yuvi must be pleased with their effort. They both needed that. I was surprised to learn that this was only Dhoni’s second Test century, and that too after a gap of almost 4 years. Hmmm..chalo, der aaye, durust aaye. (Better late than never)

With Bhajji’s ability to hold the bat (5 of his 7 50s have come since 2008), I suppose 450 should be gettable at the very least. That should be a decent enough 1st innings score. I don’t know how helpful the pitch will be for bowlers tomorrow and the day after so let’s see how the Indians fare on the field.

So then, are you ready for the Yahoooo yet??

Saving India the blushes today, and in some style, was THE MAN..with a very confident innings, a SR of more than 70 and hitting a 6 too! Could my Monday GET any better?

Days like these make me want to go back to school/college days when it was so much easier to just take a day off and sit glued in front of the telly on match days. I can probably see highlights after I get back from work, but it is not the same as watching it live. Sigh…I’ll soothe my soul with this stuff in the meantime…

SP @ Bored

Cricinfo

Trevor Chesterfield @ Cricketnext

Trying hard not to get carried away, but please RD, could we have some more?

..declares with much happiness that her blog baby has turned one today.

And on this special occassion, dear Silly M(a)id-on would like to say a few words to you all…

Ga!!

Ok, that was just a word..but she’s just one..what did ya expect?

On a serious note though, a few special mentions are in order-

Samir Bhaiya and his entire blogroll – all that reading got me started in the first place.

©hinaman and Gaurav – for the opportunities to go beyond Silly M(a)id-on.

Homer – for the kind words on and off the record (I mean on the blog and on gtalk )

Leela – for letting out the fangirl in me to the world!

Thanks to everyone who has read/commented/advised/inspired over the last one year. It has been a lot of fun. Don’t let it stop.

So my whole theory of “Of course Dravid can play in the 2011 World Cup” went down the drain. (Thanks to Cheeka and his bunch of monkeys…BURN IN HELL you lot!!)

For purely selfish reasons, I think Dravid should call it quits on the one day side of things. He might be a tough guy, and might survive another one of these jokes at his expense, but my poor heart, which isn’t getting any younger might not survive another heartbreak.

Anyways, the Champions League was a lot of fun. First the Deccan Chargers crashed out. Then Banglaore failed at the next hurdle. And then they decided that if they are not going to qualify for the semis, no Indian team should and promptly spoilt Delhi’s party. Such petty thinking I tell you! Ham to doobenge sanam, sang tumhe bhi le doobenge….

Meanwhile, the Cape Cobras had their own problems. They were winning all their matches and looking good to win the tournament. But thankfully, they were reminded of the reputation they were expected to live up to. And then they promptly choked in the Semifinals. And all was well with the Universe again. We know for sure  now that these South Africans are taught to choke right from the 1st class level.

Moving on, the much-awaited, just-the-right-number-of-matches, not-pointless-at-all Ind vs Aus 7 ODI series is here. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know who the vice captain is for India?

ODI 1 – India managed to make a match of it, after all. Jet-lagged me didn’t start watching the match until India were 6 down and then I gave up once Bhajji and PK were on the crease. But,  there were persistent cheering sounds coming from the house across mine and I realised that India wasn’t going down tamely after all. Good on them! (The batsmen in them i.e. ..not so much the bowlers)

ODI 2 today was a different story. India batted big, riding high on Dhoni’s century. Dhoni batted like his days of yore, leading one Rishi Bubna to say on cricinfo “The Old Dhoni – He’s BACK! Its Raining Sixes!” and I went into a Rakhi-esque mode “Main janti thi…mera purana Dhoni aayega…Dharti cheer kar aayega…aasman ka seena phadkar aayega…mera purana Dhoni aayega..“

(Don’t worry..I have an appointment with my psychiatrist next week. I’ll be fine.)

So after this match, I now predict a 4-3 win.

For Australia..

No, India

No..Australia

No..India

Uh..ok..India.

Finally, before I sign off, I missed out on quite a few Blog-a-versaries and Happy Bored Days of fellow bloggers. My best wishes to all of them. Leela, SP, Prafs, Bhaskar. (and anyone else I missed out..sorry) Hope you all had a good one and here’s to many more.

Obviously mindful of the fact that I will be travelling on Friday and Saturday, and I will not be able to watch the semi-finals, Team India (with a little help from Pakistan, Australia and the Rain Gods) knocked itself out of the Champions Trophy.

Aww..thanks you guys! I wouldn’t have minded missing the semis and going straight to watching the finals, but anyways…

Now excuse me while I take a break to sulk for a few weeks.