Monday, March 25, 2013

Arbit Statistics - 20: Peter Siddle

Peter Siddle once found his way to this posts on account of taking a Test hat-trick on his birthday. For some odd reason one of the more visited pages on this blog. Now he makes another foray through the latest edition of Arbit Stats.

Peter Siddle through his innings of 52 & 50 in the 4th Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has become
  1.  the first No. 9 to score a half century in both the innings of a Test.
  2. And also the first ever No. 9 to top-score in both innings of a Test. 
A singularly unique feat. Also says a lot about how badly the "front-line" Aussie batsmen have been performing.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Arbit Statistics - 19: Shikhar Dhawan Debut Edition

India register their 3rd victory in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy this time managing to beat Time along with the Aussies. And along the way, help Arbit Statistics to get another post.

  • Shikhar Dhawan scores the "fastest century by a debutant" off 85 balls.
  • Shikhar Dhawan becomes the highest scoring Indian on Test debut.
  • Shikhar Dhawan currently has the highest Test batting average of all time (185)
  • Murali Vijay is the now the Tamil Nadu batsman with the most Test centuries (3).
  • Mitchell Starc 1st no. 9 to score 99.
  • Australia have now lost 6 consecutive Tests in India.
Totally useless statistics. But then this is what cricket is best known for. The last one is the most telling about the state of Aussie cricket.

P.S. Slipstream Cricket salutes SIR RAVINDRA JADEJA. May your Legend Rise Higher and Higher.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

HomeWorkGate

In team sports its not uncommon to hear of players getting dropped on disciplinary grounds. Generally the charges are obvious (drinking, brawling, drugs), sometimes not-so-obvious (intra-team issues, personal rifts) but never has a reason such seemingly as frivolous as HomeWorkGate been given.

It came as a shock when it was announced that Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khwaja will not be taking part in the 3rd Test against India. on disciplinary grounds. And the  intensity increased when the "disciplinary grounds" on which they had been dropped were made public. In summary, players had been asked to give three points on how to improve the team (quite understandable given that they were coming from back-to-back losses). And these 4 gentlemen had failed to "present" their views in the time given.

My first reaction was laughter. The intensity of the punishment and the "crime" had seemingly no correlation. Barred from playing for not submitting homework on time sounds extremely schoolboyish and not something expected from a professional, international sports team. Though if you want to have an extreme view, the concerned players' approach wasn't professional either. Failing to complete the assigned task on time would call for censure in any corporate environment. Professional sport hardly need to be any exception to this. Yet making all this public wasn't certainly the best way to go.

Which makes us one think whether there is more to it than meets the eye. The case looks complicated coming after the recent sudden retirement of Mike Hussey. Shane Watson leaving the country, James Pattinson publicly accepting his mistake. There is too much dirty linen being washed in public. Cricket Australia needs to control the "innovative thinkers" who are becoming their coaches. Michael Clarke and Mickey Arthur certainly have a lot to answer for.

I do not even pretend to know what are the goings-on in the Aussie dressing room, but the events over the past couple of days have certainly made the Australian team the butt of many jokes. Former Baggy Greens are shocked and the arch-enemy English are rolling around laughing on the cricket pitch (Great time for the Kiwis to surprise them). But we Indians should stay focused lest we lose laughing in the Mohali Test starting tomorrow.

To sum up - there is something rotten in the state of Australian cricket. (A line I normally used in the context of Pakistani cricket) 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Arbit Statistics - 18

The Arbit Statistics return after a long hiatus. India's huge victory in the 2nd Test at Hyderabad have led to a list of some quirky statistics which deserve to be, umm... listed.
  1. Australia have become the 1st team in Test history to have lost the match by an innings after declaring the 1st innings. A singularly unique achievement. 
  2. The 2 Australian innings combined scored 368 runs which was 2 short of the Vijay-Pujara stand. To put further perspective to the value of the partnership, the rest 9 Indian wickets added 133 runs.
  3. With this win (his 22nd as captain), MS Dhoni now climbs to the top of the leaderboard for the most Test wins by an Indian captain moving ahead of Saurav Ganguly.
Now, awaiting some more odd stats, as the series progresses.