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.

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 Ganguly and Kumble no longer represent India at the International level.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?

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.

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.

No…I haven’t not written a post on the greatest news of the month yet b’coz I was busy thinking up titles…

For those interested, I have been waging a lonely battle against crashing servers, helpdesks that have been sneaked off offshore without anyone having a clue and other such things for the last 3 weeks. And then recuperating. (And well, I haven’t really been MIA either. You can find some great works ala Megha here and here.)

IMHO RD should not have been dropped from the ODI team in the first place, but that is perhaps a discussion for another day. I can see a role for Dravid in the team. He can provide the stability that is required when the team loses early wickets. Or he can hold one end while the others have a license to hit away as and when needed. Dhoni can then revert back to his earlier batting days, come in at 6/7 and hit away with abandon. And it’s not as if Dravid cannot hit a few boundaries himself . Plus you get a good slip fielder, a part time wicketkeeper and all the wealth of his experience on the field. Not a bad bargain, is it?

Those worried about how Rohit Sharma’s and possibly Suresh Raina’s career would be ruined by this decision, and how this move is not keeping in mind the WC….well, the WC is barely 2 years away. I believe that both Sachin and Rahul can play in the WC. I assume they will hang up their boots after that. SR and RS are in their early 20s right now. So age is definitely on their side. Abhi nahi to 2 saal ke baad team me aa jayenge yaar…tab tak T20 khelo na…kisne mana kiya

When Sehwag comes back, the batting order could look like this –

Sehwag

Tendulkar

Gambhir

Dravid

Yuvi

Dhoni

Yusuf/Irfan (yeah..i still live in hope!!)

4 bowlers

See? It’s not that bad, is it?

And for those of you suggesting that the selectors have given Dravid an opportunity to retire with grace, and he will do so after the Champions Trophy, well…don’t say that! That’s not gonna happen..

No…that’s not gonna happen…right?

I feel sorry for WI, they got 2 bad decisions that just might have cost them the game. Chasing 25 runs from 18 balls seems a whole lot easier if you have 4 wickets in hand as opposed to 2. More so if there is a certain Mr Bravo at the other end.

Anyway, I noticed Dhoni’s emotionless face as the last WI wicket fell. What could that possibly mean?

Was he really pissed at his team?
Was he just plain relieved that India won?
Was he just too tired to care about cricket anymore?
Was he trying to show the media that he is still Captain Cool?
Was he…

Wait a sec…Am I turning into an Indian media journalist?
Yeah…I think I need to stop now…

Hmmm.

The purpose of this tour is perhaps same as that of a student going to attend extra classes in school just to get his attendance level upto the required mark.

Which is why I call it The Fake ODI Series.

Another thing to note is that the series has started on the 26th of June. Which means that if India had managed to reach the finals of the T20 WC, they would have had just 4 days to reach Jamaica, shake off the jet lag (ok, it’s a bit easier to that when you are travelling westwards, but still!) and get used to the conditions before playing the first match. Well planned guys! Or did an astrologer tell you in advance that India will crash out before the finals?

So anyway, Dhoni says that this series is a chance to erase memories of 2007.

Umm…no?! The only way to erase that memory *shudder* is to win the WC in 2011! So don’t gimme this little trophy as a consolation prize, okay?

Win this series, and I will tell all and sundry what a great team you are and how I just knew you would bounce back. Lose it, and I’ll go “Meh! Don’t really care about it anyways….”

Just play these 4 games and go back home and take a break guys!

India have themselves to blame for this. Aweful batting effort. Just aweful! Dhoni’s gem(!) of an innings has already been called. But for some late gutsy hitting by YP, Yuvi and, well, Bhajji, the scorecard would have been a bigger eyesore.

One did get the feeling that 150 would be a competitive score. And when Simmons’ wicket fell, I still thought we had a great chance of winning. But Bravo and Chanderpaul took it away in style! Credit where it is due, I would have enjoyed their batting if they weren’t playing against India. The main problem areas for India remain bowling at death and fielding. If a couple of easy run out chances would not have been missed, WI could have been pushed a little bit more.

Anyhoo, it’s Mission England next. Perhaps they will just fall apart and save us some trouble? They have played their part in this competition by qualifying for the Super8′s. Don’t they need some extra practice for the Ashes or something?

P.S. Was Chanderpaul’s stance, when on strike, a little wierd or have I just not seen him bat for a while?

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