Silly M(a)id-on

I have a feeling that India is not going to go far in this Champions Trophy. *ducks for cover*

Don’t write me off an as infidel yet! Like any good Indian I still believe we will beat the crap out of Pakistan tomorrow. But in general, the team is not inspiring much confidence this time. I can’t quite put my finger on what’s wrong (It’s not you…it’s me). Important batsmen are injured. Bowlers are off-colour. Fielding has been meh for quite some time now. The Compaq Cup (touted as “preparation” for CT) didn’t exactly rock my world. And the lesser said about that warm up against NZL the better.

As an aside, I get very uncomfortable at the thought of India playing NZL in multinational tournaments. I think we don’t have a very good record against them in such matches, warmup or regular. Some Champions Trophy final(the 2nd edition?), T20 WC 2007 come to mind. Can anyone confirm this? Do we always/mostly lose to NZL in such tournaments?

Anyway, what I need to see is a confident win over Pakistan. Sachin, Rahul…show us what you are made of. Yusuf Pathan…please justify your place in the squad. The fast bowler brigade…get a grip! Remind us again why you all were being touted as one of the best in business and a balanced attack  not so long ago.

Go India Go!!

Obviously mindful of the fact that I was disappointed to see NZL fold up for a paltry 155, Team India has obliged and lost 4 wickets for 84.

Aww…thanks you guys! (no really, I’m not being sarcastic)

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.

..for right now, I am just going to enjoy the fact that we finished our most successful tour of NZ.

After all, what is not to celebrate? We won a Test series in NZ after 41 years. We won the ODI series comprehensively. Gambhir had a terrific tour Test-wise and Sehwag took the honours in ODIs. Indian bowlers outshone their counterparts by some distance. Most of our batsmen were amongst runs. Dravid had a good series(words cannot describe how pleased I am at this). He now also holds the record for most catches. Even when the team was in a tough spot, there was always someone who put his hand up and pulled the team out of trouble. Most importantly, Dhoni passed the “overseas series” test.

Sure, people will raise legitimate concern about poor fielding/catching. Some will say that the pitches were hardly how they usually are in NZ, NZ is one of the weaker sides right now, Dhoni should have declared earlier, blah blah blah. Well you know what. I don’t care. I really don’t. So, for now, why don’t you pass me the brickbats….and I’ll forward bouquets to the team instead

So, 7 minutes to go until Day 2 starts. Here is my tuppence on the first day.

After 60/6 I was pissed off to see NZL score 289 in all. But all in all I think I am ok with it. India are poor starters when it comes to away series. And I would rather take this start see India 6 down for 60-odd before lunchtime. Plus, you know, did you really expect NZL to just give up batting? Vettori is a very handy #8 batsman (he has scored 18 50s and a hundred before this) and Ryder is, well, Ryder. It is good to see a fightback. That is what Test cricket is about isn’t it?

Onto today…as far as India’s innings is concerned, Sehwag will be Sehwag. If he fires, India will automatically be in a very dominant position becuase of the sheer mometum his innings usually bring. If he doesn’t, I would like to think that we have a very capable batting line up. Gambhir has a point to prove. At least I think so. He needs a good series outside the subcontinent. Yuvi needs a solid effort to cement his place in the side. But the man of the moment for me is Rahul Dravid(no surprises here). He has to make sure that he paces his innings well. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that playing a lot of dot balls and then getting out doesn’t really benefit the team. So, RD, sweety, lets give me a reason to chear about from you in this series, all right?

Onto the live game…uh..as soon as it starts that is..

The first session was our revenge for yesterday. And now for 2002….

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!