India take series versus England, 3-0 with 2 to play

India notched up yet another victory in the 3rd ODI played at the PCA Stadium, Mohali. But this time it was hard-fought unlike the two previous matches. India won by 5 wickets with 4 balls to spare.

England batted well to post 298 on the board. After the early loss of Cook's wicket the English batsmen attacked the Indian bowlers and forced them to alter their line and length. As a result, all the Indian pacers were expensive. Umesh Yadav again failed to find a good line and ended up conceding 71 runs in his 10 overs. Only the spinners retained some control, so that the score could be restricted below 300 .

For England , Pietersen and Trott showed the way. Pietersen scored an aggressive 64 while Trott anchored the innings remaining unbeaten on 98. Samit Patel provided the late impetus to propel the score to 298, himself getting 70 off 48. The Indian fielding was not as good today, the highlight being when Kohli missed a simple run out by shying at the stump when he could have dislodged the bails by his hand(with the ball in it, ofcourse). England also played a lot of dot balls and could have scored a lot higher if they could rotate strike effectively.

For India, the openers were solid. Ajinkya Rahane, the man of the match, top-scored with 91. The result looked like a foregone conclusion at 190/1 before India managed to stoke the contest back to life by losing wickets. Gautam Gambhir played a forgettable shot while Suresh Raina's shot was more audacious as he was on nought. This is the problem with Raina. His temperament is often suspect under pressure and there is no point pushing him for tests when these situations recur so regularly. Finally, Dhoni and Jadeja steered India home, Dhoni really playing well under the pump. With 30 required off 18 and given India's dodgy lower order the match looked as good as gone before Dhoni took control.

For England Steven Finn bowled well again this time taking 2 for 43. Swann also found some purchase on the track. The ultimate difference between the two teams was fielding with England's oufielding being ragged and them also dropping catches. It was a particularly bad day for Kieswetter when he dropped Kohli's catch and to make it worse, missed Jadeja's run out when he dislodged the bails with his legs. Either off those two missed chances could(read would) have swung things England's way.

Generally, after the series has been won the winning team tries out some of the other players. Don't be sure of it this time though. Although nothing official, this series is being touted as the payback series in India and I get the feeling India are eager to blank England.

England, on the other hand, will try out young players. Bell's return is imperative and Borthwick is likely to get a game. Although the series is gone, professional pride is still there to play for and I am sure England will want to avoid an unsavoury "brownwash".

A good day for bowlers

Or rather, a bad day for batsmen. Because most of the wickets fell due to inept batting. But bowler will take whatever they are getting with glee in this age of flat batting surfaces.

The horrific batting started when West Indies were bowled out for a paltry 61 in the inconsequential(W.I already won the series by winning the first 2) 3rd ODI in Chittagong. Had Shakib not gifted some extras W.I would not have managed 58, the score that Bangladesh were castled for in the World Cup and still a sore point for their fans. Yes, the wicket was slow and low and there was some moisture but still nothing can excuse such a performance. Bangladeshi spinner accounted for 7 wickets while conceding 21 runs in a pitch totally different from the earlier flat ones. Surely, Bangladesh now know what kind of wickets to prepare for the test series.

But more unexpectedly, SriLanka were shot out for 197 by Pakistan in their first test at Abu Dhabi. The score can be put in perspective by the fact that the wicket was flattest of flat(still an understatement) and the conditions were oppressively hot, enough to send shivers down any bowler's spine. Pakistan bowlers must also be given credit. Aizaz Cheema bowled with pace and Junaid Khan picked up a fiver. But the blame for this debacle must be put on SriLanka's poor planning. Dilshan preferred to bat in the middle order and the openers Thirimanne and Paranavitana managed a measly 46 in 25 overs(scary) before T got out. When they say the English world "implode" , this is exactly what they mean. Build up pressure yourselves, and then perish as a result of it. I won't be surprised if the Lankan bowler give their batsmen a piece of their mind tonight. With Pakistan ending the day at 27/0 they face the prospect of a lo....ng, hard day tomorrow.

Vinay and Kohli set up 8-wicket victory for India

India notched up yet another easy 8-wicket victory over England in the second ODI played at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi. This time however India had to bowl first after Alastair Cook won the toss and decided to bat first and the credit of this victory goes to the bowlers. England now trail 0-2 in the 5-match series and it will be hard for them to come back.

England got off to a disastrous start, losing the wickets of Kieswetter and Cook with no score on the board. Trott and Pietersen recovered somewhat with the former playing some silken strokes before he was caught behind off Vinay. Later, Samit Patel and Bairstow also forged a patnership before Samit was dismissed by Yadav. But with wickets falling in clusters, England were always going to be short of a par score. The only positive that England can derive from this display is that Pietersen looked to be getting back in some sort of form. He looked to be in control, dispatching Jadeja over the sightscreen off consecutive deliveries before he perished chasing a wide delivery by Yadav. As an Indian, I know that our team feels a lot better with Pietersen gone and his wicket was as good as the match to India.

The hero of the day, I am not ecstatic to say is, Vinay Kumar, the much maligned(by me and others) military medium pacer. Honestly, I was hoping that he had a bad match so that the management would be hard-pressed to select Aaron. But Vinay bowled well, swinging the ball slightly on a pitch that offered a bit of help throughout. He took the wickets of Kieswetter and Trott, overall finishing with 4 wickets. Yadav once again bowled with good pace and found consistent away swing, which accounted for Pietersen. Overall, a good day for Indian fast bowling, which does not happen very often.

When India came on to bat, Bresnan and Finn bowled with venom early on. They found some help on this pitch and sent the ball nicely through to the wicketkeeper, often rushing the Indian batsmen with pace. Bresnan took both wickets but Finn was more impressive. He bowled at searing pace, often 150 plus and troubled all the batsmen. But his bad luck with wickets continued. Like what happened at Lord's and Cardiff, catches fell short, balls went to the boundary off edges and batsmen played and missed but did not nick. Like Sunny Gavaskar remarked with the oft-repeated phrase, "he will bowl worse on another day and get 5 wickets". Finn is an exciting prospect, as he is genuinely fast and being 22, he will get even faster. Cricket is a great leveler and I expect him to soon get bucketloads of wickets. Once they overcame that period, Kohli played a belligerent innings at more than a run-a-ball to guide India home. Gambhir played the role of second fiddle, as he often does, efficiently.

This was a clinical performance from India in which all the cogs in the wheel performed their part. Things could have been different if Finn could snap up either Kohli or Gambhir. England should have performed better because this was as similar a wicket to the ones in England as they are going to get. They should pull up their socks in Mohali, which also offers bit of pace and bounce. The exclusion of Ian Bell, the best English batsmen, baffles me and he should be brought back. Should they fail there England may well lose 0-5. The only thing that leaves bad taste is that Kohli was given man of the match. Vinay Kumar set up the win with his wickets and bowlers should be given encouragement in a batting-obsessed country. If we are to find good bowlers, we should give M.O.M awards to bowlers taking 4 wickets on flattish pitches, not batsmen smashing 100s on them.

England vs India 1st ODI: Easy win for India

The Indian cricket team tasted the sweet taste of victory after a long time when they defeated England rather easily in today's day-night encounter in Hyderabad, played on a slow pitch with variable bounce. In the process they also overcame the jinx associated with this ground in which all the 3 previous matches were lost by the home team. India scored 300, probably 50 too many for the pitch and won by 124 runs.

The match was set up nicely for India by Dhoni(m.o.m) and Raina. The pitch was tough for batting and this was India's first match under the new regulations. They took on the inexperienced English bowlers plundering 180 runs off the last 20 overs. The English bowlers missed a trick by bowling too full on a pitch where banging it short would help them exploit its dual nature.

The English batsmen predictably struggled against spin on a slow pitch. Ashwin and Jadeja took 3 wickets apiece. Jadeja, in his second coming, looks a much improved cricket, both as a batsman and a bowler. He can be the allrounder India has been looking for.

Umesh Yadav also impressed with his pace. His line left a lot to be desired, but he must be left alone than tampered with. We do not want another 120 kmph trundler bowling "line and length". Even bowlers like Lee and Steyn were erratic when they started out. Fast bowlers have to be given a long leash. Vinay was ordinary once again. Aaron seems to be the designated drinks boy. It is puzzling.

India will be pleased that they put up such a commanding performance with a depleted squad. England will come back hard at India and will be bolstered by the return of Ian Bell. Both sides will try out young players through the remainder of this series.

Power outage of 10 hours

Power is out today for a total of 10 hours in six phases starting from dawn. Yes, this is India. It enervates you and sucks out all your vigour rendering you a complete wreck. And this is not an aberration. The average outage thesedays is 8 hours. No wonder most qualified Indians leave these shores. I am personally inclined to do so.

Harbhajan dropped from England ODIs

In the first selection meeting under the reconstituted panel, Harbhajan Singh was dropped in a bold move that hinted at investment in youth with an eye to the future. Quite a few youngsters like Sreenath Aravind, Umesh Yadav and Rahul Sharma have been included while Varun Aaron and Vinay Kumar have retained their place. Ravindra Jadeja has also been retained. Strangely, however, Yusuf Pathan has still been ignored. As the team stands: Gambhir, Dhoni, Raina, Parthiv, Rahane, Jadeja, Aaron, Aravind, Praveen, Vinay, Rahul, Umesh, Ashwin, Kohli.


The exclusion of Harbhajan Singh has largely been seen as a step in the right direction. Indeed, Harbhajan has had a torrid time recently and he hardly did himself a favour by opting out of tests in favour of Champions' League t20. The message has been sent- if you want to hold your place, concentrate on test cricket. Rahul Sharma and Sreenath Aravind, two players who impressed in the IPL gets their opportunity here and it has to seen how they go about it. If there is one thing that we have learnt, it is that success in IPL seldom translates into success at the international level.


The good thing about this selection is the selection of Aaron and Umesh both of whom can generate some pace. But selection is only half of it, the final 11 matters. Our captain Dhoni( whom I rate ordinary) has a strange reluctance to field these guys. His common refrain after every match in England was that the Indian bowlers lacked pace, yet he ignored Aaron throughout, exposing his hypocricy. So although these faster guys have been selected, we will probably see the same standard fare of the Kumars opening the bowling.

Benefactor of the Kochi debacle

Q: Guess who is happiest at the dissolution of the Kochi Tuskers franchise?

A: Ravindra Jadeja. Now he can change teams in the IPL without getting banned.

Humour

Question: How can you make Praveen Kumar bowl faster?

Answer: Simple.Change his name to "NAVEEN" Kumar.

What Shoaib's criticism of Sachin, Dravid and Akram says about himself

Shoaib Akhtar's insolence towards the game's legends has been interpreted as a marketing ploy for his new book. I concur. But there might be more to it than borne by this simplistic reaction.


First off, people speaking of the venerable legends have to be respectful. Secondly, it is better not to compare or contrast them. Different people might look upon different players from divergent points of views and it is important to keep someone's disparaging opinions to himself/ herself. I, for one, prefer Mike Hussey over any of the greats. So, to each his own.




Coming back to Shoaib- all of his remarks actually mirror Shoaib's inner frustation for failing to realize his potential. It also portrays a person in denial. A person who will blame everybody but himself for his tribulations.


Akhtar's career has been plagued by his predilection to get into controversial situations- chucking, ball-tampering, fighting, drugs and whatnot. Instead of admitting to his personal demons, he has gone ahead and attacked 3 of the nicest people in the game. His accusations on Akram are downright slanderous. Gentlemen that these guys are, they have let it pass as ramblings of an imbecile and not involved in public slanging, which presumably is what Shoaib planned for. Consumers should think twice before lapping up a book, the only selling point of which- as the name "Controversially Yours" suggests- is controversies

Hamstrung United hed 1-1 by Stoke City

Manchester United starting line-up: DeGea, Fletcher, Ferdinand, Valencia, Jones, Evra, Nani, Young , Anderson, Hernandez, Berbatov


A depleted Manchester United were held 1-1 at Stoke City in a gruelling fixture in which despite the visiting side being denied 2 possible penalties, the final scoresheet aptly reflected the actual contest on the field.


Trouble for United began even before the match started with Rooney injuring his hamstring (disastrous) and Jonny Ewans pulling up during practice(not so disastrous). It was aggravated in the 3rd minute when Javier Hernandez leapt off the field after being brought down in the box. United were denied a penalty as the referee deemed the defender to have managed a touch. From the 3rd to the 10 th minute the visitors bizarrely played with just 10 men.


The game initially assumed a very physical nature and for a while the smouldering tension looked likely to spill over. But thankfully, things cooled off a bit until Nani's goal in the 27 th minute brought the urgency back into the game. In a brilliant solo effort, Nani took on the entire Stoke defense to unleash a low left-footer, beating Begovic and highlighting why many experts (including myself, albeit not an expert) now consider him at par with Ronaldo. But he missed an open goal very shortly, when Begovic floundered while receiving a back pass taking the sheen off his performance.



Stoke City, for their part mostly directed their efforts towards crosses and long loopy throws into the box to exploit the aerial superiority of Peter Crouch, their £10 million signing. It was only a matter of time before he scored, which he did in the 52 nd minute through a header( surprise, surprise), his first for Stoke to accomplish the rare( and curious) feat of having scored for 6 different clubs in EPL. United have DeGea to thank for not having conceded further, the Spanish keeper pulling off several spectacular saves including a save off Wilkinson in the first half and a strong free-kick by Wilson in the second, although the latter was a bit fortuitous. Both sides missed opportunities in a fast and entertaining game which was open throughout, substitute Giggs himself missing an easy goal in the 91 st.


United clearly missed the boisterous energy and vivacity of Rooney and Hernandez, being forced in their absense to field 2 aging strikers distinctly past their prime. Both Berbatov and Owen disappointed failing to capitalize on chances and losing possession cheaply. Their languid game, which sometimes looks artistic, certainly did not help this time and one wonders whether Wellbeck could have been introduced earlier. Overall, a disappointing performance when compared to the lofty standards United have set this season but still enough to retain their perch at the top of the table by goal difference over City.

Humour

Question to Dhoni: So, why was Varun Aaron not given a game throughout the entire series?

Dhoni: Well, you see, we wanted him to observe and learn how to bowl at 120 kilometre per hour from our experts.

Is Mohammad Aamir's 5 year ban too harsh?

I was ambivalent towards this issue, until very recently. While as a cricket-lover I could not condone Aamir's betrayal of my beloved sport, it was unfair to equate him with Salman Butt or Mohammad Asif, two mature cunning individuals fully cognizant of what they were doing and the repercussions. I thought his punishment could be mitigated, throwing him a chance at redemption.


But that was until it was recently revealed that the ICC had tried to work out a deal in which Aamir's ban would be reduced to 2 years, if he pleaded guilty to the allegations. So, the ICC did give him a second chance. Aamir clearly has only himself to blame for not acquiescing to that proposal. Fact is that some of the rapacious Pakistani players had insidiously converted the camp into a bookies' haven. Some of the culpable parties have escaped conviction due to lack of evidence(like a certain Kam... Ak...) and they will no doubt be commending Aamir for not ratting on them. But as a neutral, I wished he had so that his promising career could flourish.


Life waits for nothing and the game goes on. Cricket today lacks the type of domineering bowlers who bully the batsmen and capture the imagination of the public. In such circumstances, some mediocre player like Kam... Ak... would not be missed. But the absence of Aamir's precocious talent is felt everyday.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi breathes his last at 70

Former Indian Captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi has passed away this evening, aged 70. He was admitted to a Delhi hospital in August with severe lung infection where his condition gradually deteriorated.


A perfect gentleman and the epitome of integrity, he is largely credited with turning the Indian cricket team from the usual pushovers into something of reckoning. I won't say too many things because his playing days were over far before I was born. But my dad, who witnessed him captain India in 40 tests holds him in the greatest esteem.


Well, everybody has to die sometime. But what disappoints me the most is his demise after India's 4-0 loss to England while contesting for the Pataudi trophy. Add to that, the British faux pas of inviting Pataudi to the podium at the presentation but instead handing Strauss the sponsor's Npower trophy, ostensibly as an oversight. Surely, the man deserved better.


R.I.P

Champions' League t20 is a charade, not a competition

So the England tour, the most disastrous in my memory comes to a close to give way to the mindless hitting of t20.And knowing how the BCCI works, once an IPL team wins this tournament- given that there are 4 IPL teams the odds are high- everything will be construed to be glorious about Indian cricket and any criticism or suggested measure of improvement will be nipped in the bud. The public also tend to fall for this misleading portrayal of the health of Indian cricket. But blogs are there to educate people through free speech, aren't they?



The first question which arises is whether this competition,which even borrows its name from the premier European club football championship, has any significance that justifies its being.The answer is a resounding no, if considered for anything other than filling the BCCI's coffers.Cricket,unlike football, is only played competitively by a handful of countries and even then the domestic t20 leagues are unequal in terms of quality and scale.Unlike the football championship which is organized by the UEFA, the big brother BCCI wields the stick in Clt20 daring anybody to fall out of line and be summarily removed from the tournament. Equal weightage is not given to all the domestic leagues. The whole thing is skewed towards an IPL team winning the competition and blaring the trumpets of the BCCI.



Football nowadays is a club-based sport where the major footballers play in different clubs of England, Spain, Germany, Italy which are as good as each other. But in cricket, most international players only participate in the IPL, thereby constituting the qualitative superiority of it and making this concept of Champions' League all the more redundant. Also, in football you can only play for one club unlike cricket where merceneries like Kieron Pollard ply their trade all over the world but ultimately favour the most lucrative one in CLt20. So you have players like Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo playing for Mumbai Indians and Channai Super Kings respectively, instead of their native Trinidad and Tobago, stripping the local flavour- which could have been the saving grace- of the competition. Things which work in football do not work in cricket and everybody should realize that the only reason this is still playing out is the money. The insatiable appetite of the Indian consumers for all things t20 should be apportioned the major responsibility as to why this farce continues. Fans of REAL cricket should atleast stop watching this, if not IPL. I have.



And hey, have you noticed the remedial properties of these t20 leagues? Players like Bhajji who had gone out with tenuous injuries are suddenly completely fit. Rather obfuscating, but I am waiting for Gambhir to declare himself fit. Who knows, even Zaheer may become match-fit for 2 weeks before slumping back to his perpetual injured status. So sad, Sehwag's team is out. It may baffle you, but you can't argue with the results.So ignore all those nay-sayers and malicious, cynical people and their fallacious arguments that these t20 leagues breed injuries.They cure them.



P.S: The last paragraph was satirical but you already knew that, right?