'The Destroyer' in action

Amidst all the things happening these days, I could not resist the temptation of jotting down a few words for Sehwag for his batting performance yesterday. He literally butchered the Sri Lankan bowling attack with a ton of runs. With 40 boundaries and 7 6's, Sehwag played shots all across the ground. He made strokes at will. Whenever he wanted and wherever he wanted. The runs kept on flowing. Though he missed the world record of highest 300s in Test Cricket, he scripted a special place for himself in the history of Test Cricket. Hats off !

Sehwag frustrates the opponents once again

English Captain Andrew Strauss on Sehwag
"He plays a game most people are unfamiliar with, He almost manipulates the field. You change it, and it's like he says: 'Right, I'm going to hit it somewhere else now'."

What Dhoni needs to look at

It's too easy to criticize the seniors. They don't play well in one match and the sword is again hanging over their heads. Ganguly got tired of it and decided to retire. Dravid, Laxman and Tendulkar are still hanging in there. Nobody knows till what time. Dhoni has always been critical of senior players. Mindless criticism and comments have spewed out of him a lot of times. What he needs to look at is the following record of senior players in last one year.

Test match figures....

	Matches	Runs	Highest	Avg	100s
Tendulkar	13	955	154*	47.75	2
Ganguly	16	1283	239	45.82	3
Laxman	16	1171	200*	58.55	3
Dhoni	12	595	92	35	0

Somebody needs to take a look at some numbers to understand what is going on !

Cricket on Digg!

Cricket appeared on digg for the first time since I have started following it. Here's the pic. Sachin fans must be happy!

Why doesn't Bangladesh Cricket Team call it quits?

"Try and try, one day you will succeed" Unfortunately, the saying doesn't seem to apply to Bangladesh Cricket Team. After recent white wash by Pakistan (5-0) in One Day series, I seriously wonder how long it will go on! Bangladesh has been playing International cricket since 2000. In seven years, they have consistently lost again and again. The test record is pathetic.

In seven years, Bangladesh has played 53 tests. They have lost 47, won 1 and drawn 5. That is about 2% success rate.

The one day record is slightly better though. They have played 177 matches, won 39 and lost 136. Success rate of about 22%. But looking closer, out of these victories, 15 have come against Zimbabwe, 8 against Kenya, 4 against Ireland, 3 against Scotland and 2 against Bermuda (I had almost forgotten Bermuda played Cricket!)

With all respect to Bangladesh Cricket, I would suggest they should make a call to give it up. 7 years of efforts have led them nowhere. Chances are, they won't lead them anywhere in future either.

[Image Source:
http://www.kaputa.com/sports/cricket/imgx/logo/bangladesh.gif]

Yeh Kya Hua, Kaise Hua ....

Ooops .... !!

Indian Cricket fans and the players both were left with this song at the end of the first day of the second test match against South Africa. Supposedly stellar batting lineup of Indian team got wound up in just 20 overs with 76 runs on board. Four ducks. Only two batsmen in double digits. Extras as second highest runs (19 after Pathan's 21). Six batsmen clean bowled and the harrowing details of Indian collapse continue.

You go in with an extra bowler (Irfan Pathan in place of injured Tendulkar) and when you know that the pitch has slight grass on it and may favor bowlers, what in God's name was Kumble thinking when he decided to bat first?

I was lucky not to be watching that horrifying display of dismal batting by Indian team. It is going to be a tragic and humiliating defeat for India. A defeat that will haunt them for a long time to come. (I wish my words aren't true and some miracle happens and India saves the match. But those kinds of miracles rarely happen.)

[Image Source: http://www.cooqy.com/blog/images/shame.jpg]

Geoffrey Boycott speaks

In an interview with Cricinfo when asked his choice of best all-rounder of all time.


"....[But] if I had to pick my greatest allrounders, No. 1 would be Sir Garfield Sobers. He is the best batsman I have ever seen. Obviously there have been other [great] batsmen, but I have only seen people in the last 30 or 40 years. He was a fantastic batsman. As a bowler, he could bowl these wrist-spinner chinamen and the orthodox left-arm, but when he bowled seam-up - and he only did that late in his career - as a left arm swing-seamer he was quite sharp. He was much sharper than Kallis is now, at about Kallis's pace when he [Kallis] was at his youngest and best. He [Sobers] swung it alarmingly and he was a fantastic bowler.

If I had to pick another one it would be Imran Khan. If you look at his record, he averages about 37 with the bat and he gets his wickets at about 23. He has been a match-winner for Pakistan and to top that there were his leadership qualities. The Pakistan side were sometimes a rag-tag and bobtail bunch who were either fighting among themselves or there were political things going on. But Imran could pull them all together and make them what they usually are: a very talented, world-beating side. Imran has got to be in there [in my top three allrounders].

The other great allrounder I have seen is Ian Botham. He was a swing bowler at his best. He had a narrow waist, big shoulders, big back side, a lot of power and pace, and he could get right around and bowl outswingers at pace. A very aggressive bowler. He got his wickets cheaply, and then he was an exciting batman. To top that, he could catch at slip - he was brilliant.

I forgot about Sobers: he was a brilliant catcher too.

You've asked me three and I've given you three but I'd like to add one name to that. A man I didn't see but one I've read a lot about would be Keith Miller. Miller was one of the great, exciting cricketers - and I use the word "great" properly - of all time. You ask people who saw him bowl. With [Ray] Lindwall and Miller, it was like lightning. Miller bowled people out with fast, genuinely fast bowling. He was an aggressive, attacking batsman as well as a carefree individual. You ask someone like Richard Benaud and he just rolls his eyes - he thinks Miller was fantastic."

[Article at: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/talk/content/multimedia/341141.html?view=transcript]

Betrayed. Defeated. Humiliated.

January 6, 2008. Death of 'A Gentleman's game'.
Indian team defeated by the trio of umpires and Australian team's stinking attitude towards game.
Once again Australia proved that their cricket sucks.
Ponting is one of the worst, most greedy and unethical cricketer and captain of all time.
Symonds is opportunistic.
Kumble handled the situation very gracefully.
ICC is sold out to the anti-asian and racist clique.
BCCI's stand will be interesting to watch.

India Down Under - And they remained there

It happened as predicted. I thought they would win by an innings. It didn't happen that way. But it was equally bad. Australia thrashed India by 337 runs. India had a pathetic display in every department of the game except first day show. We thought claiming 9 wickets of Aus. on the very first day was unusual and we saw a ray of hope. We thought this team can make a difference. After all this team has guts and talent, at least on paper. And it stayed there on paper only.

When it came for the batsmen to deliver, they succumbed. Dravid continued his hopeless lack of form. Ganguly and Laxman were defiant as usual. They stood tall amongst the team and the other batting line up fell apart around them. In both the innings, the batsmen showed no commitment. Of course, we will do injustice if we don't appreciate class bowling performances from Clarke and Lee. They ripped the Indian team apart.

Problems with our team. Numerous. Here are a few in my view point.

- There is literally no fast bowler in our team. Prasad has instilled his own 'qualities' into the fast bowlers and now no one can accelerate the pace beyond 130 kmph.

- Dravid needs to be 'rested'

- If not rested, he should be pulled down the order at his original place. Do not make him sacrificial lamb.

- Bring Sehwag back in the team. Fit him as an opener. Give him a chance. Anyway the team's performance is hopeless Why not take a risk? If he delivers, it will be a huge bonus for the team.

- For God's sake, please get rid of Harbhajan.

- Bring Pathan back.

Boxing Day Test

I see India's defeat in the air. There is no way this team can beat Aus. It is 134-0 and both the openers are playing exceptionally well as usual. Why on earth we need Harbhajan Singh in the team? I don't understand. Zaheer looks jaded. Question to selectors and team management; 'Do you really think you have any chance against Aus with just two 'fast' bowlers?' RP Singh is a total mediocre. Just to include Yuvraj in the team, you kept Pathan out. Sheer nonsense. You could have utilized Pathan as a swing bowler on this pitch.

I just hope we don't lose by an innings. Though it seems absolutely inevitable.

P.S. Before I publish this, Captain Kumble has struck just now. Jaques is gone, stumped.

The Bengal Tiger Roars Again!

Nobody else has been in limelight in Indian Cricket as much as Ganguly, for all sorts of reasons. Right and wrong. He started his career with a fantastic tour of England, establishing his place as an aggressive opener. He went on to become the most successful captain of India. He instilled new breath in Indian team which was flagging in performance as well as confidence. He was authoritative to the extent of sometimes being called dictatorial. His bitter raw with coach Chappel was one of the ugliest chapters of Indian cricket. His deteriorating form and other unrevealed factors forced him out of the team for a long time.

But when he was given a place in the team again, he showed his class, determination and mental strength once again. He bounced back with a fabulous performance. He silenced his critics with his bat.

Yesterday was his day. His home ground. A test match against Pakistan. And a glorious 100. It could not have been a better setup for Ganguly to shine. And he did.

The Bengal Tiger is roaring again. And this time it is loud and strong.





[Image Source: http://www.channel4.com/sport/cricket/img/news_images/03-03-20_ganguly1_371.jpg]

Shane Warne's 50 greatest cricketers of his time

Source www.timesonline.co.uk - Shane Warne's column

50 Jamie Siddons
49 Darren Berry
48 Brian McMillan
47 Chris Cairns
46 Dilip Vengsarkar
45 Waqar Younis
44 Alec Stewart
43 Michael Atherton
42 Ravi Shastri
41 Justin Langer
40 Kapil Dev
39 Stuart MacGill
38 Sanath Jayasuriya
37 Stephen Harmison
36 Andy Flower
35 Michael Vaughan
34 Bruce Reid
33 Allan Donald
32 Robin Smith
31 Tim May
30 Kevin Pietersen
29 Shoaib Akhtar / Craig McDermott
28 Saeed Anwar / Mohammad Yousuf
27 Jacques Kallis / Shaun Pollock
26 Steve Waugh
25 Darren Lehmann
24 Brett Lee
23 Stephen Fleming
22 Martin Crowe
21 David Boon
20 Adam Gilchrist
19 Aravinda de Silva
18 Merv Hughes
17 Matthew Hayden
16 Andrew Flintoff
15 Graham Gooch
14 Rahul Dravid
13 Anil Kumble
12 Mark Waugh
11 Courtney Walsh
10 Ian Healy
9 Mark Taylor
8 Ricky Ponting
7 Muttiah Muralitharan
6 Wasim Akram
5 Glenn McGrath
4 Allan Border
3 Curtly Ambrose
2 Brian Lara
1 Sachin Tendulka

My Comments:

1. Too many batsmen. Warne seems to be biased towards batsmen.

2. Sachin above Lara? No way. Lara is exceptionally talented player who survived in a team which hasn't been in limelight at all. Yet he excelled along with the responsibility to win matches single handedly.

3. Steve Waugh on 26th? Is he joking?

4. How on earth can you place Akram and Waqar so apart from each other? In my opinion Waqar was a much more lethal bowler than Akram.

5. What the hack are players like Harmison, Stuart MacGill, Lehmann doing in the list? With all due respect to them, they are not greatest 50 material.

6. Alan Donald on 33? Even behind players like Pieterson and Flintoff?