Apocryphal Stories !!!

Once the think tank of Australia sits down on the table after this match, there are three points that would stand out 1) After winning the first T20 International game ever and then proceeding to lose the very next game, comprehensively. From that day on till today, Australia has neither got a stable game plan nor have they got the winning culture that they have in the other two formats 2) As much as they would deny it, the ghosts of that game in Johannesburg still remain and comes back to haunt them from time to time, when they play South Africa. Notably, in throwing away winning causes 3) Shane Watson is central to their fortunes in all the formats of the game. When it comes to Limited overs it is his bowling that stands as a differentiator between the teams At the toss, White was asked if it was individual efforts that counted in the T20 games or the team effort. His answer was “In this format, individuals can win you the match in a ball or two. When it boils down to ti...

There was a time when the crowd at Sabina Park, Kingston used to bay for blood and they were pretty open in their hostility to the opposition batsmen and love for the bowlers. Now the pitch has cracks that would support the spinners as the match wears on. Though the pitch had cracks from the ODI’s, the groundsmen did a good job in covering them up and making it a pitch that can help the seamers upfront. The support received though would be minimal and India had no hesitation in batting first after winning the toss The team selection of West Indies was a little weird considering they went into the match with four bowlers. An off-day for any one of the bowlers would prove fatal India handed debuts to Abhinav Mukund, Virat Kohli and Praveen Kumar in the match- first time since 2001 that three players were handed out the Test caps in the same match. It was perhaps a mighty co-incidence that all three of them got off the mark with a boundary, though in contrasting styles Abhinav Mukun...

Just when it was thought that South Zone have gotten over that final from last year, the approach on the third day proves that they haven’t yet forgotten the final from last year On a day where they could have tightened the noose on North Zone, they let the things drift, slowed the pace of the game and virtually have left a door open for North Zone to get in That it was the doing of the batsmen themselves is the fact that will rankle them tonight. Except for Ishant, who bowled an inspired spell either side of lunch, there was nothing that other bowlers did. South had to depend on some valuable partnerships from the tail to get to a position of strength What reflects badly on cricket is that the first change bowler for North Zone was bowling at 117 kmph on an average and his slower balls were clocked at 87 kmph! Despite this South could’t take any advantage Amit Mishra like Badrinath erred in his field placements but unlike Badrinath, he had to pay heavy price for those mistakes as...

If the first day was all about the application of mind by an individual, the second day was all about what can happen if a team performs collectively, where everyone knows their job pretty well South Zone’s day did not start off properly as Vinay Kumar was taken for boundaries by Joginder of the first two balls of the day. And even though, Vinay troubled Dogra he was largely ineffective in terms of taking a wicket. Badrinath then turned to his spin ace Ojha. He delivered and how? He beat Joginder with turn and forced Dogra to hit out to the mid-on fielder. Narwal and Ishant then stitched a valuable partnership before Narwal was castled by Aravind When their turn to bat came around, South started a touch slowly and the innings gained steam with the skirmish between Ishant and Uthappa. Uthappa virtually went on the attack and just when he seemed set for a century, he gifted his wicket away Pandey looked circumspect initially but then came into life with the introduction of the spinne...

Isn’t it somehow the easiest thing in the world to do- to back the underdog. What matters is actually backing them when they begin their struggle. On a benign pitch, North Zone somehow contrived to find themselves in a fix at 30/3 and later at lunch on 57/4 Like the cliché` goes, Dogra stood tall amongst the ruins. It isn’t easy to play the kind of innings that he played today. There were two or rather three turning points in the game connected to Dogra today. One was him surviving the probing spells from the Karnataka pacers before lunch. He seemed all at sea against Vinay Kumar and Aravind, unable to decipher the movement and found a few outside edges eluding the fielders Second was the way he treated the part time bowlers of South Zone. At one stage, both he and Yashpal Singh were on 19 but at the sight of the part time bowlers, Dogra motored away. So much so that when Yashpal got out for 32, Dogra was on 72 Third was the way he dominated Ojha and never allowed him to settle int...

The smirk on Lee’s face when Watson dropped a catch of Davies was indicative of so many things at once. One was frustration at the inability of his fielders to back-up his efforts and the other being to find himself in a team of normal mortals after being a part of champion teams Strauss finds himself in charge of a team that is doing all the right things and even in this match, his team’s bowling was better than that of Australia. In the end, the only separating factor between both the teams was Shane Watson The match started off in a fashion that was utterly reminiscent of the Ashes. England batsmen stitching a superb opening partnership and having the luck running their way throughout the entire span of the partnership. Haddin was helping them with his ineffective keeping. He regularly muffed stumping chances and was having a bad match in general. After what has transpired in the Ashes, it’s barely a surprise and the calls for including Tim Paine won’t be pushed to the backgro...

Breaking News : Sachin has scored his fiftieth century at SuperSport Park, Centurion and yeah it's one of the best innings he has played given the circumstances India begun the day in a positive manner as Dravid looked to occupy the crease and shield Ishant from the hostile bowling. It was Ishant who started the flow of runs as he drove fluently through covers and then got an edge that flew over the slip cordon. It looked as if lady luck was smiling on Ishant as he got a leading edge to a ball pitched on the middle and leg and it carried back to Morkel. As is the trend these days, replays showed that Morkel had overstepped Ishant was getting his runs through proper cricketing strokes and the square drive he played of Steyn was straight out of the coaching manual and Steyn drew revenge of the very next ball when he had him caught at short-leg by Amla. The dismissal in full was because of Amla's reflexes as Ishant middled it In came Tendulkar and he started off from whe...

'Maranamrudangam' is the term used in southern parts of India to describe the 'feeling of knowing one's death beforehand/ technically put the sound of one's death approaching' Indian cricket team did not quite know what hit them on day 3 of the Test match that they ended up conceding a glut of records to the batsmen The day began on a ominous note for the Indians as Amla seemed to have settled down into a groove that seemed to have avoided him yesterday. He quickly got into the rhythm with his trademark drives. He started off with a superb drive through covers for a boundary and then proceeded to play the scoopy, checked cover drive of his through the covers. What was more heartening to watch was the square cut of SreeSanth and the backfoot strokes by Amla were enough for the Indians to think of another long day of chasing leather Kallis on the other hand was beaten by a stray delivery but nothing on a regular basis troubled him. Amla was motoring away at ...

Around an year ago Ian  Chappell stated that there is a need for two world class bowlers in the team to sustain the number 1 ranking. A lot of people then scoffed at him and said he was plain jealous but then it was seen and felt today that what he said was right India played like a shadow of the number 1 team they are. They folded up with the day just three balls old and the new ball bowlers did nothing to make it count and to make things worse the debutant did not just have enough pace to trouble the batsman Graeme Smith and Peterson saw out the new ball and then started to express themselves as the shine went off the ball. Petersen was fluent with the drives and Smith as usual was strong square of the wicket. Not even a single ball from the seamers troubled them The introduction of Harbhajan into the attack turned into a run fest as he pitched short repeatedly to Smith who had no hesitations in cashing on. Peterson also slog swept Harbhajan for a huge six. It seemed like Ind...

When a few of the players arrived early in South Africa at the behest of Gary Kirsten, a lot of the people thought of it to be extravagance at the expense of an ODI series against New Zealand. With a look at the scorecard, even that acclimatisation seems pretty short The pitch for this match was prepared fairly early and India knew all along that it was going to be a grassy pitch, aiding pace and movement. With rain pouring down heavily from last night, it was clear that the team that wins the toss would bowl first not because there were demons in the pitch but to exploit the prevailing conditions. Dhoni failed to call correctly and Smith had no hesitation in putting India in Once in, Sehwag left the first two balls he faced as if he was in a monk like trance. Instincts got the better of him on the third ball that he got to face from Steyn. He slashed hard at a wide ball and got a top edge that flew directly to Amla at third-man. Smith's reaction to the dismissal showed that it w...

Matthew Hayden, talking about playing in India said  "There are periods of time when nothing happens and then suddenly a wicket falls, the crowd gets behind the players and then another wicket falls. Before you know it's all happening in front of your eyes" This seems to be even more true with India being the numero uno in Test cricket now. When the focus shifted to Rajiv Gandhi International stadium, the 101st stadium to host Test cricket, all the concerns were centred on the pitch. There was heavy rain in the southern parts of the country and as the pitch was covered for most of the time, it was expected that there would be some help for the pace bowlers Zaheer Khan these days does the job of taunting, terrifying and ultimately snaring the batsmen pretty well. He seemed to be on course to do the same to McIntosh all over again as he bowled immaculate line and length to him. McIntosh bagged a pair in the last game at Ahmedabad and looked vulnerable against Zaheer w...

Ruthlessness is described in the dictionaries as being 'without pity or compassion'. This was the characteristic not shown by Sri Lanka in dispatching Australia to further doom. It was shown in abundance,by them on various teams between  13th April 1996 and 1st October 1996 Agreed that the series was won before they went into the third match but it was not a reason enough to take the foot off the accelerator. Having won the toss and electing to bat, they did not get off to an auspicious start as they lost their top-order in moments of madness to McKay who got the ball to move in appreciably  Dilshan was guilty of choosing a wrong ball to flick as he moved across and flicked one into the hands of Hussey at square-leg. Sangakkara after being beaten by a peach of a delivery chased one outside the off stump and went back without troubling the scorers. Same was the case with his old mate Jayawardene as he looked to drive a ball, short of a fuller length and found t...