The real culprits ??

Since Sept 2005..

Mat Runs HS BatAv 100 50 W BB BowlAv 5w Ct St

All 36 1205 141* 40.16 3 8 10 2/25 50.40 0 11 0

Home 20 587 100* 34.52 1 4 5 2/25 47.80 0 7 0
Away 9 332 100 41.50 1 2 3 1/27 72.00 0 3 0
Neutral 7 286 141* 57.20 1 2 2 1/1 24.50 0 1 0

Before I write anything please see these stats was his record good in India or Away. Is he scoring runs only in India ??

After seeing the kind of stats pulled up by Cricinfo I remember one famous quote by Bernard shah "There are lies, damn lies - and statistics". You can manipulate the stats the way you want.

Thesre is no denying the fact that Tendulkar is playing below his level but to paint picture as if he is playing below every one is just rubbish. Even in recent South Africa tour of 4 matches he top scored in 2 matches.

We should ask some very strong questions. Why was tendulkar brought down the order ? It known very well he likes opening and his record donw the order pales in comparission to what he achieved in opening the innings.

Mat I NO Runs HS1 HS2 HS3 Ave 100 50 0

Opening 265 262 19 11731 186* 152 146 48.27 37 56 10
3rd 11 10 1 92 31 21 14 10.22 0 0 0
4th 65 61 8 2059 140* 113 105* 38.84 4 15 5
5th 37 36 8 797 82* 54* 53 28.46 0 5 3

I have always believed that Sachin and Sourav should open the innings with Shewag at NO.3

I have read many article saying that Dravid is best indian batsmen for years now. I have great respect for Dravid and his record for past 4 or 5 years show that he had contributed more than tendulkar no question about that.

All I have to ask is how many of you still believed that Dravid will win the match against Srilanka after Dhoni got out ? I for one stopped watching the match at that point I know it was over... Once Tendulkar got out we know that it was always going to be hard or take last world cup final when Tendulkar got out most of them did not believe india can win the match.

It will be intresting what will happen in April 6 & 7th meeting. I for one want Chappel want to get far away from Indian cricket as much as possible. I always believed Ganguly was treated very unfairly by him now he does that to every one.

I also believe that Dravid should be retained as captain and be given time till atleast England tour.

I am very very disapponted with the way india played esp the fact that they choose to chase in such a crucial match. Do I have remeber everyone how many match we lost like this 96SF,99final and this one when we had option to bat first hope they dont make this mistake again ..


Who is the real culprit ??

Was Watching Tendulkar embarrassing ??

Yesterday I saw whole day of 4th Day's play and I have to say I am very disappointed with the way India performed esp with way Tendulkar have batted. I thought he should have come down the track to the spinner and should not have allowed him to bowl that long.

But to call him embrassing is unfair. Dravid was also involved in that patnership and not a word of criticism on Dravid and the author writes he infected Dravid. I am not sure this guy watches or knows enough about cricket. Dravid has always been anchor in Indian team who scores slowly. Not many people are going to disagree with me on that. Dont forget that Tendulkar dismissal was a bad decision. He was not out plain and simple.

Cricinfo(Wisden) has always been unfair to Tendulkar. There are too many instance to point out. But the bottom line is they give the best coverage for world cricket that I know if any one know any better site I will happy to follow that site.

I am more than happy with way Tendulkar batted in South Africa even though he did not score enough runs.

Match depends upon how we perform in first session. I still hope that we might be able to win this match. I t all depend upon drying upon runs. South Africa should struggle to score runs they should not score it easily. Even if India is going to lose this match they should strech it to 70-75 overs so that we might every chance of winning.

India Vs West Indies

After a long time I watched some cricket today. It was agaig heart breaking. India was so clost to win yet they lost. To be fair to them it seemed liked West Indies lost their way. Some how I feel that if Lara has not scored that boundry it could have been intresting. Not a bad performance for bowling point of view but once again pathetic batting performance. We should change our batting order. Our batting order should look like this

Shewag
Sachin
Dhoni
Yuvraj
Dravid
Kaif
Raina/Mongia
Irfan
Powar
Harbhajan
Patel

This should be the team composition we should be following against Australia. We should be using Dhoni at 3 and only 4 regular bowlers. Get 10 overs from Shewag & Tendulkar. We need 7 batsmen for comfort zone. Exprimenting with Irfan is fine but not on Knock out match when it is not working.

Should Sourav be in playing XI for the first Test?

A lot has happened since I had my last post. Many changes for better. If you have gone through my previous post you will instantly recognise that I am not the greatest fan of Ganguly. But I feel that he should be in the playing XI for the first test. At whose cost he should brought in ? I am not sure about it. But he should be given a fair chance.

If Ganguly is given an opportunity to open I think he should take it. As Yuvraj is playing nice in middle order I dont think so he will be opening or in worst case he might be dropped in favour of Ganguly If India opts for regualr openers.

Yesterday I saw an interview of Chappel on Ganguly. It looks as if he is saying that Ganguly is going to sit in bench. I am not happy about it.He is not our best test batsmen but still a good bat whom I believe still can contribute to Indian cricket with World Cup in mind.

His achivements in ODI's are second only to Tendulkar. As far as ODI's are considered he can still win matches for India and and score big. He should be there in our World Cup team. But his test record is not that impressive. He can be given a clear time frame to perform or be out of the Test squad not be just dumped as happened in third test.

My Squad for first test will be

Shewag
Ganguly
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Irfan
Agarkar
Harbajan
Kumble

A New beginning ??

I really hate reading news papers or any articles when India looses. I just dont even look at what is written it hurts a lot when India losses. Thats the reason I did not update my blog these days. I feel the India deserve to loose the third test.

Why did they presisted with Parthiv ? no one is going to answer this question. He batted well but his keeping was pathetic. Akash Chopra was struggling for form all season but still select him and paid the price.

I know that its easy to speak everything in hindsight but Parthiv and Chopra everyone is calling for them.

Ganguly decided to skip the test. What Ganguly did was correct in a way but in a lot of ways what he did will affect team in a long run. Its hard for me to believe he did not play because of Injury. He did the same for unofficial test between India and SA. It is sad politics affected cricket this much. Australia played well which they always do and they are deserved winners.

I am happy about new faces in the team still I would have like Sriram to be included if Ganguly is not in the team. Thats not going to happen. I feel very sorry for Yuvraj. He opened only in one test failed in one innings and remained unbeaten in another and he gets dropped. Thats too harsh on this guy if you look at oppurtinity Chopra and Parthiv got he deserved atleast another match.

Kaif is really batting well if he scores century in Mumbai then either Ganguly or Laxman have to be axed in next series. I would love to see Kaif score a century. Real problem is Dravid and Tendulakr not scoring. If turn the tables in Mumbai we may not feel this bad.

We have more than even chance of winning the Mumbai match if we win the toss..

Rain Gods saves Australia in Chennai.

Last test it was Umpires against us now this time Rain. May be luck was with Australains. It was very frustating to see the match end this way. I was hoping yesterday morning that atleast we might get 30-35 overs but that was not to be. Very very disappointed we had more than fair chance to win this match with the way Shewag started.

But we should realise that India should have finished match in the 4th day itself but excellent batting by Gillespe and Martyn. Gillespe did that for second time against India in recent times. It really look dumb that Clarke remaind unbeaten. In the first innings Katich remained unbeaten I thought both should have gone for big hits.

In Chennai there are some positives to take esp Shewags batting.When he asked after his innings how warne bowled he replied "He got wickets but he did not bowl well" thats same I feel nothing much to fear of him.

I was not at all happy with Partiv reatined in the squad. His batting is very impressive but his Keeping let us down very much. Kaif was very impressive he and Parthiv gave us very good lead with out them Australia would have been in front rest of middle order was still a worry for us. Hope they come good in next test.

With 0-1 and 2 test to play its deja-vu can India pull it off this time ? Will Tendulkar return to third test ?

I had great pleasure of being in the ground when Warne made the record. He was really enjoying the moment. At that evening he was making fun for Crowds it was really very enjoying experience and Langer in other side was dancing for our tunes. All the Australian players are pleasing crowds and crowds enjoyed them much.

Chennai Test First Day

Today I saw the match in stadium for the first time. Its an unbelivable experience. If you have never seen it in a packed stadium you miss a lot. In morning its only half packed. I went to ground around 9am and got my first shocker Austaralia won the toss and batting. Atleast I was happy that I could see all Indian players. Indian team included Zaheer Khan I did not except it.

In the first session Australia hit our bowlers every where. Zaheer Khan was going almost 6 an over. Over all run rate was nearly 5. I did not come to watch this. I was stunned to see this and at lunch they were 111/0. I was reading paper for last half hour before lunch.

I took lunch outside and returned lately around 1.00. I heard a huge noice comming I know immediately first wicket was gone. It was Hayden and two balls later Langer too got out. The game was getting intresting at both wickets feel to Harbajan. Both Kumble and Harbajan bowled well. Damien Martyn was out last ball before Tea.

After Tea Kumble was deadly. Aussies did not know how to play him. Yuvraj droped Katich at short leg. Its a very easy catch.
Kumble was running through wickets at other end.

Gilchrist, Gillespe and Kasper walked before given out. Gillesepe for second time in this series and Kasper after given not out. It would give a lot a respect to them when they do some appeal. I am very impressed by Gillespe he may not be specialist batsman but its special somone walks in the consecutive innings. After Kasper walked Shepard looks confused. Yuvarj returned favour by walking.

At close of play Indian were 29/1 with Shewag and Pathan in the crease. Longer Shewag stays in the crease he will just reduce bring us close to Aussies first innings total quickly. If Shewag is there during Tea then it will be question of what will be the lead. Strangely not many are worried about Yuvarj dismissial simply most surprised he syrvived this long.

One strange thing I had in morning was after each 4. I was looking for reply !! Just used to TV. btw we had a Screen in corner.

Today Indian have got a very good position in Test. But the walking of three Australian batsman won many hearts here and showed true sportsmanship. Thats the way to go with Gilly leading ..

Too tired today to write a detailed report I will do it after this test..