Silly M(a)id-on

Why would you choose to bowl first on a seam-friendly track and then open with your spinners twice in a row?

Are they batsmen, are they bowlers, are they in the team to just make up the numbers, does the captain not like the other players warming the benches? Why were Jadeja and Pathan playing against WI after repeated failures?

Were these mistakes repeated just so that the stubborn captain could try and prove that his tactics and team selections were actually a work of genius, and just did not work in the match against Australia for some reason? Is this one of the reasons why we are almost out of the tournament??

Why…why…why would the batsmen in a team, who are supposed to be “the strength of the team” no less, not even try and apply themselves when chasing a decent score? Twice in a row?

Screw you Men In Blue. Pfft. I’ll follow the girls instead. You would do well to take some inspiration from them yourselves. Two S/F appearances in two T20 WCs. (Dear reader, did you see what the girls did to SL today, yet?

Btw, the senior members of the One day team have rebelled big time against BCCI. They can’t stand playing SL anymore, so they’ve pulled out of the Triangular tournament in Zimbabwe altogether. I know. I know. The BCCI is trying to avoid this scandal by saying stuff like “We are resting the seniors” etc. But trust me. That’s all boo-hockey. Revolt is in the air.

Bhajji has the best bowling figures (RPO-wise).

Yuvi got a couple of wickets.

Rohit Sharma is (and probably will remain) the highest scorer for India.

Yes…it’s one of those matches…

Shiv Sena is still bent on not allowing Aussies in Mumbai. I knew this would happen. I’m sure no one in BCCI knows how to use PowerPoint. So it is not a surprise that they were not able to give Thackerey uncle a convincing presentation.

Deccan Chargers warn of boycotting the IPL as their “home” matches are being moved to Mumbai and Nagpur because of the security situation. The move was decided on despite assurances of full support from the authorities and the Telangana Joint Action Committee.  Trying to make sense of this development in conjunction with point 1 made me a little dizzy initially. Now I am just amused and waiting for IPL’s response.

The first thing I saw when I woke up today was that Steyn went for more than 4 runs an over. BWAHAHAHA

In November, NC wondered why Bhajji’s sister did not get married instead of Gambhir’s. She has obliged now. And Harbhajan has ruled himself out of the first 2 Saffa ODIs. Better late than never I say. Ha!

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.

(RANT ALERT)

I have been in hiding for the last 24 hours. I had to…after the hiding India got. So, the last 24 hours were spent in Denial. That was Stage 1.

This is Stage 2.

You wanna know why you lost the game yesterday, India? You wanna know why?? Here’s how it happened-

- Going in with  3 seamers when the pitch is declared to be a graveyard for fast bowlers? Bad idea. Leaving out Mishra in the bargain? Even worse.

- Dhoni said in the after-match interview “I have never seen so many runs scored backward of point.” (Malik scored a LOT of runs in that area) Really Dhoni? So it didn’t occur to you to put a fielder there for that?

- Yusuf Pathan -> 56/1 and 5 runs. ‘nuf said. Try Nayar. How much worse can it be? You might get a pleasant surprise due to his novelty factor.

- Harbhajan Singh -> 71/1 and 13 runs.  Try Mishra. Seriously.

- Gambhir -> Did the groin inury affect your brain too, Gautam? Basics man, basics…

- Kohli/Raina -> Someone forgot to tell you I guess. You are playing in an ODI. That’s right. O-D-I. One Day International. Repeat after me….One…Day….International. There you go. Remember this for tommorow. Try and “construct” an innings. You cannot blast your way out of trouble here always.

-Dravid -> That was your chance to be the hero. The saviour. And you blew it! Repeat after me….One…Day….International. Geddit?

Losing to Pakistan in an ICC event…and now SA is out of the tournament…sheesh!!

Stage 3.

All is forgiven if you beat Australia tommorow. I’ll help you. I’ll stuff my fantasy team with Australians even if that means using up all my transfers.

Didn’t I say that I don’t think India will go far in this tournament in my last post? Well, I take it back. Now I want India to qualify for the finals. And Pakistan too. And I want India to win the Cup. So there.

Here’s my father on the art of getting one’s exceptionally large feet into one’s even bigger mouth!

With all these discomforting talks going on about ODIs being past their prime, I have been asking myself what exactly is it about ODIs that I don’t want them to die out. Am I just refusing to give up something I have enjoyed so much for as long as I have been following cricket? Or do ODIs still have something to give to the game?

Shane Warne thinks we don’t need them anymore. Harsha Bhogle has a point when he says “If you remove the ODI from the mix, the gulf between T20 and Tests, from a batting point of view, becomes way too vast, and over time you end up with a situation where players are good enough to play either the one or the other.”

Peter Roebuck thinks There Is Life In The ODI Yet. While Dileep Premachandran calls for an overhaul.

There has been a lot of talk about ODIs needing “a context”. Lots of ideas are being thrown about. No more bilateral series, no phony 4-match triangular series, playing ODIs as a build up to Test matches on tours, splitting each innings into 2 etc. Leela made a point about ODIs series being an interesting watch these days only if there is some off-field drama associated with it, and I find myself agreeing with it. But then there wasn’t always some kind of drama associated with ODIs when I used to stay up late and see all those matches, was there? (or was I really fokat those days?)

I mean, all of India’s matches were seen simply because India was playing. All of Australia’s matches were seen because they were the numero uno team and I wanted to see if any of their opponents were giving them a run for their money. Pakistan’s matches were followed cheer the other team because earlier Pakistan losing used to be equal to India winning somehow. All of South Africa’s matches were seen because when they were not busy choking, they used to play good cricket. And for Shaun Pollock.

And now when I find myself trying to write a preview for the Compaq Cup, I don’t know what to say. I mean yeah, I’m happy that India is finally back in action. And I am super excited to see how Dravid will fare and all. But it’s not how it is supposed to be. This series (and the Eng-Aus one) seems so pointless that I am tempted to label it as another Fake ODI Series. As someone commented on someone’s blog (and I paraphrase here because I don’t remember where I read this)

It takes just 4 matches to decide a tri-series, but it takes 7 one-dayers to conclude that England suck at pyjama cricket.

Indeed.

I can’t believe Haddin has the nerve to call Vettori claims poor and low! I have seen the replays of the infamous “glove incident”. I didn’t think for a second that Haddin did that purposefully, I did not even expect him to call Broom back. But you would think that having seen the replays, he could have apologised maybe? Or just acknowledged that the dismissal did not look right and said something like “We all should be careful in the future” like Vettori said? Too much to ask? I thought so!

- Welcome Border-Gavaskar Trophy! It is nice to have you back. A 2-0 win is as comprehensive as it gets.
- Ind/Aus contests are beyond just cricket now. The animosity reminds me of Ind-Pak contests of before. Only it is worse now. It is on the field and off the field. The talk that goes on is more than just “mental disintegration”. And honestly, I am getting a little bored of it now. Don’t care who is doing the talking…or elbowing!!
- Finally, I am convinced that Indian fast bowlers have come of age. Zahir and Ishant have proved to be genuine strike bowlers. With RP Singh, Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan (yes, I have not ruled him out as yet) on the bench, we have a genuine pace attack now. A far cry from the days when pacers were just required to take the shine off the ball so that the spinners could go do their thing. It is also a major reason why Indians are better travellers now.
- Ricky Ponting is losing it. He is not used to playing catch-up to teams, not 3 tests in a row anyway. And the pressure is showing. There have been quite a few bizzare decisions from him that I think he will find hard to live down. Opting and persisting with White and not giving Krejza a chance until the last test, not giving Lee a bowl in the Mohali clash for an extended period presumably because of sloppy over rates, the mad rush while chasing a near impossible 516 in the same test, the icing on the cake being bowling part-timers when India was at 166-6 on the 4th day in the final test, again because of sloppy over rates. Very rarely were the Aussies ahead in this series, and they never managed to go for the kill when they were in front. Their frustration was aptly summed up in Haddin’s crazy attempt to stop the ball by throwing his glove at it! A “New-Age Cricket” tactic Mr. Ponting or did your team just run out of ideas?
- With the departure of Ganguly and Kumble it is the beginning of the end of an era in Indian cricket. With Kumble goes one of the last gentlemen of the game. And with Ganguly goes the architect of the Great Indian Makeover. Siddhartha Vaidyanathan has written a wonderful piece that aptly describes my state of mind. Although I am excited about the prospects of this Indian team, I can’t but help look back at the past.
- MS Dhoni. He does bring something extra to the team , doesn’t he? Almost seems as if there is some invisible force in the field when he is at the helm. Plus it does something to his wicketkeeping and batting as well. He seems to thrive on responsibility. I hope that the combined pressure of captaincy in all 3 forms plus wicketkeeping plus batting combined with the constant media scrutiny don’t take its toll.
- Rahul Dravid..what can i say. I will be in India on holiday when the 2-Test series against England starts. I have a feeling it could be his last. So, I will make sure I follow all of it. Of course, would be glad if Dravid plays for much longer

And finally..Test Cricket is awesome!!

Looks like Team India has put itself in a bit of a spot here with some insensible batting. An all-too-familiar late order collapse is not what what , plus the usual generosity of spirit in giving Krezja an astounding debut. Hayden and Ponting are gone, but Hussey and Katich are looking good. So here is what I think should be done. (Another gem from the Department of the Bleeding Obvious coming up. I’ll take the award now, thanks)

India need to send the Aussies packing ASAP with some attacking bowling and fielding (Dhoni, are you listening?).
Ideally I would want them to be dismissed by tea. The Indians cannot afford to let them get too close to 441, let alone concede a lead.
And then there is need to bat sensibly and not gift wickets away like in the 1st innings.

Also Rahul Dravid needs to bat down the order, specially if our openers start well. The man is under pressure and I suspect he will try and make one last bid to get some runs against his name and it may turn out to be a snoozefest! While I am on that, Rahul, could you please please please make a few runs in the second innings…with a decent strike rate?