The Twenty22 LineUp

We are already a few days into 2023 and the laws of cricket have been called into question in the Big Bash League. Before the year gets too far ahead, here is looking back at the year gone by. 2022 was a packed year for cricket with many countries clearing their covid backlogs. It was also the year in which we moved away from Covid with players participating actively in games even after testing positive. A far cry from the days when even those who had potentially come in close contact with them had to be put in isolation.

Here is presenting the Slipstream XI for 2022!

1. Cricketing Term of the Year – BazBall

BazBall is the real deal. Winning multiple improbable 4th innings chases, taking out a dead Rawalpindi pitch and bad light out of the equation, England are showing that Test cricket can be played differently! This after a horror start to the year after another pounding in Australia in the Ashes!

2. The Question of the Laws

Ben Stokes took a DRS Review after being given caught behind. Replays showed ball missed bat, hit the stumps but the bails did not fall off. Given not out on review, everyone had a hearty laugh, but it once again brings into question of LBW is a valid form of dismissal at all?

3. Coach of the Year

Given the headline dominating BazBall, Brendon McCullum should have been a cert for this award. But it goes to the other England coach, Matthew Mott, who in 2022, first lead the Australian women to an ODI World Championship and followed it up by leading the England Men to a T20 World Championship!

4. The Perseverance Award

12 Years after his Test debut, Jaydev Unadkat got to play his second Test for India. He may never play again, but what a story it has been, toiling year after year on the domestic circuit, and finally getting his second Test cap, and first wicket

5. The cricketing moment of the Year

There were a few contenders - Virat Kohli hitting that six off Haris Rauf (18.5), Stuart Broad conceding 35 runs in an over to Jasprit Bumrah, surreal scenes in BPL where the fielder’s throw hit both sets of stumps and the second one was runout. But the most talked about incident turned out to be Deepti Sharma running out Charlie Dean at the non-strikers end. The so called guardians of “Spirit of Cricket” were all up in arms on social media, where the debate raged on and on. The players themselves moved on fast with Deam attempting a run-out the very next day. Only issue was the non-striker had her feet firmly plonked behind the line!

6. Rivalry of the Year

Move over the Ashes, India-Pakistan, England-West Indies or even the Naagin rivalry (Sri Lanka – Bangladesh for the uninitiated). There is a new rivalry in town which has in origins in a Mr. Bean’s Pakistani duplicate being sent to an agriculture event in Zimbabwe a few years back! It came to light only in the T20 World Cup clash between Zimbabwe and Pakistan (won by Zimbabwe). Such was the storm on social media that even the Heads of States of both countries got involved!

7. Friendship of the Year

On the other hand, there were the Argentine fans of Bangladesh cricket, who were reciprocating their support after learning that there were more Albiceleste fans in Bangladesh than in Argentina itself. Result – Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s series winning exploits against India were also written in Spanish across the interwebs! That is one interesting way to grow the game.

8. Karma bites back

In the Ranji Trophy pre-quarter finals, Jharkhand batted on and on, scored 880 runs, shot out Nagaland for 289, then batted again and declared at 417 taking a lead of 1008 runs (first 4-digit lead in first class history). However in their very next game, they were at the receiving end. In the Quarter-finals, Bengal batted first scored 773, shot out Jharkhand for 298 and then batted again to pile up 318 runs. Just a small lead of 796 runs!

9. Ypu Gate

A journalist threatening an international cricketer and getting caught by his typos. Well done Wriddhiman Saha for exposing one rotten apple. But one wonders what else goes on behind the scenes. This ypu can’t be the only one who has indulged in such activities!

10. The Debutantes of the Year

ODI (W): Thailand

T20I (M): Cook Islands, Croatia, Fiji, Gambia, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mali, Slovenia, South Korea, St. Helena

T20I (W): Bahrain, Barbados, Denmark, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Isle of Man, Malta, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain

11. The New Format of the Year

West Indies compressed the game to 60 balls and made random changes along they way and came with The 6ty. It had its own set of bizarre innovations. Lets see which format comes along in 2023! 

That was the Slipstream selection from 2022. Hoping for an action-packed 2023 with its two World Cups and Test Championship Finals. 

Wishing all readers a Very Happy and statistically fun-filled cricketing Year.

The Last Ball Six

Everyone who has played any form of cricket has had this dream. Playing for your country. Hitting a six off the very last ball to win the match. Heck, we have even made a movie of it. Bhuvan hitting the last ball over the boundary to save 3 years’ worth of tax for his village in the climactic scene of Lagaan. Cricket could never have had greater context, an increasingly elusive commodity in modern times. But I digress. 

18th March, 2018. India vs Bangladesh. Dinesh Karthik lofts the last ball over covers to win tournament for India. Bringing a sensational end for what had been a pretty insipid tournament. 

It was one of the moments to cherish. And a reminder to myself why I love this game so much. Don’t remember when I was last jumping up and down during or after a game. And I had only watched the last 3 overs of this game.

In an age of cricketing overdose and no “context” to keep the fans engaged, there came a T20 tri-series (!), in Sri Lanka (!!), with Bangladesh (!!!), where India rested their stars (!!!!) and still sailed through comfortably. At the start, the most interesting bit of the tournament was finding the channel telecasting the tournament– Discovery Sport & Rishtey Cineplex!!! 

But things got a bit spicy as the tournament progressed, mainly due to the antics of the Bangladeshi players during and after their last game with Sri Lanka. Their “naagin dance” celebrations managed to piss off the Sri Lankan fans to such an extent that they came out in vociferous support of India (!) in the Final. Indian teams over the years have had vocal support in all parts of the world, mainly from our expat population. (Benefits of having over 1.3 Billion of us!!!). But never ever have we had the local crowds supporting us in such a manner!

This could be the defining innings for Karthik in an era of abundant wicket-keeping talent. Having made his debut in 2004, has been in and around the Indian team for all this time. Many a times playing as a pure batsman and only on occasion getting to keep wickets in Dhoni’s absence. No one has ever doubted Karthik’s keeping talents. Good to see this unsung performer finally getting his share of the limelight. 

Never has India’s wicket-keeping coffers been so rich. Dhoni is still there, and then there is a bunch of veterans fighting for his retired Test spot – Saha, Karthik, Parthiv, Naman Ojha, and the IPL brat pack – Pant, Samson, Kishan – vying for the limited overs spot! And just to get the mix more interesting, we have batsmen, who are also employed as keepers – Uthappa, Rahul, Jadhav! What riches in the wicket-keeping talent pool!

After such a game, comes out the heartening back-story of Abhishek Nayar, who played 3 ODIs for India, helped Karthik rediscover his mojo. Nayar was also the one who brought Rohit Sharma’s career back on track in 2011. Time to take Abhishek Nayar’s mentorship role more seriously.

And finally a few thoughts for Vijay Shankar. Felt sorry for him, as he tried to put bat on ball, but was simply unable to. Seeing his struggles while Karthik blasted from the other end, was a reminder that cricket is a very much individual game masquerading as a team-sport. Vijay Shankar struggled, but in the end, India won, so it was all OK. Hopefully, he does get another chance to showcase his talent at the biggest stage.

After all these years, Dinesh Karthik has finally arrived. If nothing else this shot will certainly go down in Indian cricketing folk-lore like Kanitkar's boundary!

Arbit Stats #63: Kiwis sneak in on the Tigers

Test Match #2246: New Zealand vs Bangladesh

Continuing with the recent trend that a good 1st innings score of the visiting team is just not good enough by the end of 5th day's play. And 5 days is a long passage of play.

595/8 - Bangladesh are now the owners of the unwanted record of the biggest 1st innings total ending in a loss, breaking 19th century record

5 - Number of catches held by Imrul Kayes as a substitue keeper. 

5 days is long time. And this 3rd innings is proving decisive these days.

World Cup 2015 - Quarter-Final Predictions

The battle-lines are drawn. The Quarter-finalists identified. 7 games remaining, 7 teams to be knocked out. 1 winner. On the eve of the first of the 4 Quarter-finals, its Divination time – the time to predict the teams still left standing after four days of hopefully intense battle.

Quarter-Final 1 – South Africa vs Sri Lanka

The foremost question - Will South Africa choke again? AB de Villiers has said they won’t. History suggests otherwise.

It’s an intriguing clash between two teams with very evenly matched records against each other. Both are coming in with 4 wins each. South Africa have a suspect record while chasing and a tendency to not make through to the knock-outs. Sri Lanka on the other hand have regularly been reaching the last stages of ICC events. They also have been losing players through the tournament and have a question mark on their bowling.

The toss will be crucial. Both would want to bat first and avoid the scoreboard pressure while chasing.

Prediction – Sri Lanka to win toss, bat first, put up a fairly decent total. South Africa would begin the chase in earnest, then falter, and asphyxiate, resulting in a Sri Lankan victory.

Quarter-Final 2 – India vs Bangladesh

Both teams have had a much better than expected Group Stage. Powered by their bowlers (!!!), India sailed through to the top of the Group with 1 full game to spare. On the other hand, Bangladesh punched out England and gave a good scare to the Kiwis on their way to the knockouts. The MCG is expected to be filled with Indian supporters, some Bangladeshi supporters and a decent contingent of the Barmy Army. 

India are the favorites but will do well to remember the 2007 World Cup. Bangladesh don’t have anything to lose but a win would certainly be the greatest day in their sporting history. 

Prediction – India (what else to expect from an Indian blogger)

Quarter-Final 3 – Australia vs Pakistan

On one corner, the home team, who are an efficient mean machine out to destroy all opposition with both bat and ball and powered by a sense of not giving it up till the last ball has been bowled. They have had a smooth ride into the Quarters with only one bump in the road. Even in that loss to the Kiwis they showed the true Aussie grit. Where many teams would have given up after being knocked out for 150 odd, Australia fought back hard and the Kiwis barely managed to scrape home with one wicket to spare.

On the other corner, you have Pakistan, a team which is the very definition of mavericks. The Irish were knocked out by Pakistan, not because of their own loss to them, but due the hammering which Pakistan got from the West Indies. After years of using one Akmal or the other, Pakistan have finally learnt that it pays to have an actual wicket-keeper doing the job behind the stumps. A good bowling combined with some brittle batting make up for a totally unpredictable combination.

Prediction – Australia to win.

Quarter-Final 4 – New Zealand vs West Indies

The Kiwis go into the knock-outs with a cent percent record while West Indies have barely managed to make it on the basis of net run rates. The Kiwis have looked set to destroy the opposition batting and then chase down the small targets as fast as possible. Though sometimes the batting does implode but so far they have survived on this tactics. West Indies, on the other hand, seem to have no plan but just individuals doing the job either fantastically well or spectacularly badly with no middle ground. Gayle can get a double century all by himself or the bowlers can tie down the Indian top order but chances of both events happening together seem quite unlikely.

The result could well depend on which version of West Indies turns up to play.

Prediction – New Zealand to win. Or a Chris Gayle explodes (which hasn’t ever happened in any crucial game in any format for any team).

Now its time to see how good my "inner eye" is.

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - March 9th

Tigers have tamed the Three Lions.

England, the inventors of the Gentleman's Game, have been knocked out of the World Cup by Bangladesh. 

A result which has made them the butt of jokes in the cricketing world. On Twitter they have already been invited by Malaysia and Japan for a challenge game. Lets see what their response is. Although judging by Peter Moores' reaction, they would be looking into the data before making any response. During which time, a couple of other countries would have surpassed them in ODI cricket.

However, this was not really a surprising result, given that Bangladesh had beaten them in the last World Cup as well. Bangladesh in quarters seems to be a just reward for their most loyal fans who have been supporting the team from one loss to another, with the occasional win thrown in. But most of the wins had come in home conditions (Asia Cup 2012, and the Kiwi whitewashes) or in Zimbabwe. So good to see them qualify in the conditions Down Under.

On the other hand, England have been on a seemingly never-ending downward spiral, at least in World Cup cricket. Can they go down any further? They are hosting the World Cup in 2019. So does it mean a direct qualification as hosts or do they still have to fulfill the Top 8 criteria or go through qualifying, if they do not? ICC, we are still looking for a response.

In other news

• 5 of the 8 quarter-finalists have been identified and 4 are in running for remaining three spots, all in Group B. South Africa are more or less through with Pakistan also in a comfortable position while Ireland still need to do some running to ensure a knock-out spot ahead of West Indies. The final week of games will see teams jockeying for positions.
• England will be looking to avoid embarrassment against Afghanistan, otherwise more Associates and Affiliates will be clamoring for a game against them.
• Pakistan are back at their unpredictable best and South Africa are already preparing their supporters for the coming "choke".
• Sri Lanka's injury list keeps growing with every game. 
• How is Sangakkara even thinking of retiring from any format of the game. 
• Jason Holder is the new Darren Sammy. Contributing more that his fair share with bat and ball, yet coming up short because of his team.
• John Mooney - was the foot on the line, when he caught it? Did Sean Ervine walk off before he was given out? 
• The DRS debate will never end. Just shows how tough is the field umpires' job when even the TV umpire makes mistakes/has to make judgement calls.
• Eoin Morgan is in the wrong team. Among other things, can ICC create a system of ensuring that Associate players are not stolen by the likes of England. 

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - Feb 21st

Another round of one-sided hammerings. These matches are still watchable for their sheer sadistic quality.

• Today's notes begin with an after-thought from yesterday's Kiwi-English game. The shambolic English performance could be summed up by New Zealan'd winning "shot" - an over the head wide running down to the boundary.
• And now for today's game of the upredictables. I had predicted a Pakistani win but given that these are the two most unpredictable teams around the result couldn't have been any more opposite. West Indies recorded their biggest ever victory against Pakistan.
• 1 for 4. Thats the score most of India woke up to. And we were celebrating out big victory against this team.
• Arbit Stat#41: 1 run - the lowest combined score made by the top four batsmen in an ODI innings
• West Indies have come back from losing against Ireland to hammering Pakistan throwing Group B wide open. The inconsistency of the teams in the mix just adds to the unpredictability although the long drawn format was designed to maintain status quo.
• Bangladesh must be really happy to get away with a point from a washed out game against the Aussies. This one point might well crucial in the end.
• Its still early days but funny to see England and Pakistan bang at the bottom of their respective groups after 2 games each.
• Tomorrow the big boys come to play. Will India finally manage to open their account against South Africa in the World Cups. Or will this mauka mauka game continue.

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - 20th Feb

The World Cup is rolling along at its own slow pace. Two games have happened since the last shorties were posted.

• Is the entire country of New Zealand one gigantic Lord of the Rings set? Certainly that is the impression one gets from watching the cricket.
• Zimbabwe and UAE produced the first competitive game of the tournament with Zimbabwe winning with 2 overs to spare. The chase was tighter than expected but UAE basically ran out of steam.
• Meanwhile the Kiwis have taken full flight (cliche). 3 wins in 3 games including Sri Lanka and England. The Kiwis have bowled well and batted with the sole aim of improving their net run rate as much as possible which may come into picture for deciding the group placings.
• Also a time to compare the relative performances of Scotland and England against New Zealand. Who are the minnows now?

• Breaking off for lunch with 12 runs required, ICC where is your common sense. Obviously commercial interests (increasing TV time as much as possible) have taken over practical action. What if it had rained during and after the break. New Zealand would have been robbed given that 20 overs had not been completed?
• England have lost 2 out of 2. They still should qualify but the game against Bangladesh assumes crucial status. If the weather forecast stays true, Bangladesh may get away with a point against Australia which will be more trouble for the English.
• Stats - UAE get their highest ODI Total, Tim Southee - best ever ODI bowling figures for New Zealand, Brendon McCullum scores the fastest World Cup 50.
• Prediction Time - Pakistan to prevail in the game of unpredictables against the West Indies, while Australia should win weather permitting.

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - 18th Feb

7 Down, 42 to Go.

One game a day, that too involving an Associate country. The World Cup seems to have been scheduled along the lines of television - daily soaps for the weekdays and blockbusters for the prime time weekends (which must have been the intent all along).

• Afghanistan made their World Cup debut. Lots have been said about their fairy-tale journey over the last couple of years. Yet, Afghanistan competing in the top level of any sport still seems straight out of a Disney movie.
• The only bit of the game I actually saw was the national anthems. And it was a fairly remarkable sight. Also probably the first time ever that I have heard the Afghan national anthem.
• This was a big banana skin of a match for Bangladesh who had everything to lose. Yet they managed to avoid it with a few hiccups.
• Shakib-al-Hassan and Mushfiqur Rahim bailed Bangladesh out of a potentially tricky situation. Although it was a welcome relief from the string of 300+ scores being recorded.
• Afghanistan lost the plot at the start of the chase and were never in contention then.
• Arbit Stat - Shakib is now the first Bangldeshi batsman to score 4000 runs in ODI cricket.
• Still awaiting the first close game of the tournament.
• Prediction Time - Zimbabwe to comfortably beat UAE tomorrow.

World Cup Preview - Group A

The World Cup is almost there on us. And like the teams, the fans are also slowly but surely warming up to the event. Now, while we wait for the real event to start, Slipstream Cricket presents short previews of each of the participating teams. 

Covered in today's post are the teams in Group A.

Australia
Australia are the hosts, have the best knowledge of the local conditions, a good attack, an in-form batting line-up. But they also have to resolve their captaincy conundrum. Their is a good chance the captaincy might be passing between an unfit Clarke, the less in-form Bailey and the heir apparent Steve Smith. The Aussie selectors may have over-gambled on this matter. Also there will be shadow of the tragic events earlier in the season.
Prediction - Should make the quarters easily and their going all the way won't be too much of a surprise.

New Zealand
They are the co-hosts, have the best local knowledge, a super pace attack for the conditions with good spin support and a batting line-up in the form of their life, and they are the masters in sledging (refer last World Cup Quarter-finals against South Africa).
Prediction - Should make the Quarters easily. My pick for lifting the Cup.

England
The entertainers of the last World Cup. Good bowling attack but the batting seems to lack the extra explosive fire-power which all the other teams seem to be have.
Prediction - Quarter-finals, but not beyond.

Sri Lanka
They have been consistency personified in the last few ICC events though they have had a rough time in the recent series in New Zealand. They have an added incentive of winning it for their retiring legends Sangakkara & Jayawardene. A fully fit Malinga holds the key for Sri Lanka to go far.
Prediction - Quarter-finals

Bangladesh
Not played well at all in the big tournaments. The team is mercurial and may cause an odd upset but they are equally prone to being beaten by the Associates. The Bangladesh-England match is likely to decide the last knock-out spot from this group.
Prediction - Group Stage

Afghanistan
The World Cup debutantes Afghanistan have been the feel-good story of the sporting world. Their rise in the global game is the stuff fairy-tales are made of. Their decent pace attack is countered by their inconsistent batting. They are the banana skin match for the big teams in the group.
Prediction - Group Stage

Scotland
Scotland shouldn't provide much trouble to any of the other teams. Their aim would be to put it past fellow Associate Afghanistan and not embarrass themselves against the big boys.
Prediction - Group Stage

Key Games

• Bangladesh vs England
• Australia vs New Zealand
• Afghanistan vs Scotland

Next time - Preview of Group B teams.

Arbit Stats - 25

Centuries  - A frequent occurrence in Test cricket.

5-wicket hauls - Slightly less frequent but quite common in Test cricket.

Hat-tricks - Quite a rare event in Test cricket.

Now in the ongoing Bangladesh-New Zealand Test at Chittagong, Sohag Gazi has become the furst ever player to achieve all three landmarks in the same match. 2 wickets in the 1st innings followed by an unbeaten century coming in at No. 8. And then follows up with a 6 wicket haul with a hat-trick thrown in, in the 2nd innings. 

Way to go - Sohag Gazi and Bangladesh, who managed to take a lead in the 1st innings.

P.S. Complete list of players scoring a century and taking a 5-wicket haul in the same match is here.

P.P.S The Kiwis declare setting bangladesh 256 in 45 overs. Well done Brendon McCulllum for trying to get a result.

World Cup Thoughts - March 19th

The penultimate day of the league stage action.

• Goodbye Bangladesh. To be honest you were a disappointment. You surprised everyone by winning against England (but that can be easily attributed to England being England). But the 2 crucial matches in which victory could have secured a quarter final berth, the batsmen simply froze. 58 against West Indies and 78 against South Africa were a collapse too many. Home support ultimately counted for nothing.
• South Africa beats Bangladesh and India, England, West Indies qualify for the quarter-finals. Pretty good example of the Butterfly effect.
• Finally it ends. Australia lose a world cup match after some 4139 days. Thats a long time. Last defeat also coming against Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup.
• Ponting and the Aussies are becoming grumpier by every passing game. Haddin involved in some unsavory incidents today.
• So its going to be a New Zealand-South Africa quarter-final. This is certainly going to break the sequence going on since 1992. Both South Africa and New Zealand have reached the semi-finals in the same world cup and lost there, or not qualified for the semis.
• Tomorrow's games lined up. Farewells to Zimbabwe and Kenya, and a QF slot finalising game for India and West Indies.

And wishing all readers a very Happy & Colourful Holi :)

World Cup Thoughts - March 11th

Before I begin today's post, some thoughts on the Earthqauke and tsunami in Japan. Nature putting on a "Shock and Awe" show to make everything else seem so insignificant.

England were playing today. Match had to be exciting. Here are the thoughts after today's matches.

• Who is fixing all the England matches. Loses to Ireland and Bangladesh. Still not out of the QF race because they beat South Africa and stole a point from India. 
• The match winning 9th wicket partnership reminded me of the Kumble-Srinath heist on Australia in the Titan Cup match in 1996.
• Eoin Morgan must have been now wanting to play more and more for the Irish rather than the English.
• Ireland are certainly not a minnow. haven't really been outplayed by anyone and actually have been favorite to win at some point in all the matches so far.
• Yesterday, Zimbabwe did take 6 Sri Lankan wickets for some 20 odd runs but the those 282 scored before really hurt them. 
• There was another screw-up with the UDRS system. Gary Wilson was given out at a very critical stage in lets say "dubious" circumstances post review. Did not see this happen directly. But thanks to Sridhar for pointing this out. (More details in his post here)

Tomorrow is a big game. India taking on South Africa to decide the top of the table.

World Cup Thoughts - March 6th

Not posted here in a while. Contrary to what might seem given the frequency of posts here, I actually have a regular job, with a 6 day work week at that, which sometimes makes me earn my salary. So since my last posting, where both my predictions went horribly wrong, 5 matches have taken place. Here are the World Cup thoughts as of date.

• New Zealand are now in a neither here nor there kind of situation. They get thrashed by the big teams and indulge in some heavy-duty minnow bashing when they get the chance.
• Whatever happened to Bangladesh. All out for 58, certainly wasn't expected and that too against West Indies. This was followed by the shameful incident of stone throwing at the West Indies team bus. Even more ridiculous was the explanation provided by the police, that the fans thought it to be the Bangladesh team bus. As if throwing stones at your own players is acceptable behavior.
• If their was an award for the "Most Entertaining Team of the World Cup" it has to go to England. Another close match. 
• Don't like to use the word, but South Africa choked today. When AB de Villiers and du Plessis were crawling towards the target, I wondered if the South Africans were planning to choke. And thats what they did. A flurry of wickets and England out of nowhere found themselves at the top of the Group table.
• It seems all captains have found the way to get Kevin Pietersen out. Just put any left arm spinner against him. Today it was Robin Peterson's turn to get KP.
• I believe the Irish are going to become the most loved team of the World Cup. Another fighting display this time against India. They were BRILLIANT in the field. Trent Johnston's chicken dance routine was funny. And George Dockrell is an impressive young spinner. Certainly looks like getting into the England team soon.
• Yusuf Pathan showed how to best deal with a small target in a nervous run chase. 5 balls faced from a bowler who had just taken out Dhoni. 2 straight huge sixes and a four. Can't be more confidence destroying than that.
• Never visit the barber's shop while an India game is on. My neck was literally on line with a raazor blade uncomfortably close while everyone debated the DRS review. One unnerving experience to say the least.

So tomorrow we have the game between Canad and Kenya. Not even worth predicting.

World Cup Thoughts - Feb 26th

Finally a good game between Ireland & Bangladesh, taking the count for good games to 2 out of 9 played so far (Netherlands-England being the other one). And both my predictions made yesterday came true. Here are the thoughts for today.

• The groups are looking more and more lopsided. The stronger Associates have landed in a group which was already far more competitive than the other. West Indies, Bangladesh, England & Ireland are fighting for 2 QF slots with the Dutch also a tough team.
• New Zealand - Zimbabwe match is going to be the decider for the 4th quarter-final spot in Group A, and I have a feeling that Zimbabwe might sneak in.
• This is going to be a spin dominated world cup. Except Australia everyone is playing more and more spinners.
• I was watching the post-match show after the South Africa - West Indies game. There was a discussion on the issue of taking the fielder's word for low catches. Saurav Ganguly then recalled an incident from a test played in 2008 when he took the fielder's  word for a low catch and walked. However the ball had touched the ground and India went on to lose the Test. He did not name the fielder or even the opposition but it was obvious which match he was referring to. The Sydney Test (monkeygate scandal) of 2008 still hurts every single Indian player involved in that game. Maybe thats the reason India haven't lost to Australia in a single Test match since then (Played - 8, Won - 5, Draw - 3).
• Fantasy Team performed well with both trumps Watson & Tamim putting on a good show. Tamim's Man of the Match award was a bit surprising given Shafiul Islam's late spell, but I am not complaining.
• Today's prediction - Pakistan are playing, can't predict the unpredictable but they should win.

World Cup Thoughts - Feb 19th

And finally thee 10th Cricket World Cup has begun. India beat Bangladesh in the opening encounter by 87 runs. Virender Sehwag had revenge on his mind and did just that. A first ball 4 to start the campaign and silence the crowd. And he also lived up to his promise of batting for long. And in the process achieved that immortal Indian score of 175 (must be a special number for Indian batsmen Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar & now Sehwag have scored this figure now). Virat Kohli also scored a century as India smashed through to 370 in their 50 overs. Bangldesh fought well but the total was always out of reach. Man of the Match Sehwag wasn't done though and provided some more fireworks in the post match interview.

• This was a revenge match
• Bangladesh are not good enough as a test side
• Everybody played well except Sreesanth (that must have hurt)

So Port of Spain 2007 has been avenged. My wishes were fulfilled, not fully but I'll take this.

Now looking further in the tournament. India next play England 8 days from now, where Sehwag can seek revenge for all those years of British rule. For the immediate future New Zealand take on Kenya while Sri Lanka face Canada. Prediction - Both New Zealand & Sri Lanka to easily win. 

My wish for tomorrow, some fireworks from Rizwan Cheema and maybe a calm well composed innings from that fellow with the coolest, calmest, most composed name Seren Waters.

The World Cup - Still Waiting to Start

We have had many warm-up matches. India has beaten Australia, thrashed New Zealand, Dhoni scored a whirlwind century, Piyush Chawla justified his selection. England were nearly embarrassed by Canada, while Ireland flexed some Associate muscle. Then there was an opening ceremony which seemed like a bundle of random programs (which were pretty good, but the package did not fit somehow).

And after all this we still have England & Pakistan playing another warm-up game. Are they planning to play a World Cup at all?

Anyways, it seems tomorrow the official matches are finally going to start with India taking on Bangladesh. Only wish India absolutely hammers Bangladesh. Nothing less will do. After all that defeat in 2007 still hurts.

And to show my support for Team India, here is my symbol (Thanks to The Cricket Watcher's Journal)

The World Cup Memories - 2007

The 9th edition of the World Cup was held in the West Indies. It was promised to be a fun-filled tournament, pictures of the sand and the sea were used for the promotions. One of the stadiums even had a party stand with a swimming pool (!!!). But these turned out to fe false promises and the Caribbean World Cup turned out to be the most forgettable one of all.It was too long, boring, marred with a death and ended in darkness with a total chaos in the final.

I had returned to college doing my MBA. India's early exit ensured that the hostel atmosphere could not reach anywhere near the levels of the engineering days. The auditiorium had been booked for telecasting the matches. But after the first few people hardly turned up for them. Soon all the matches were being followed only via cricinfo. During the later half of the cup the summer internship had started and the live viewing reduced even further. 

India's campaign was disastrous. Losing to Bangladesh and then to Sri Lanka knocked India out off the cup. In between we did win very big against Bermuda. Ireland beat Pakistan to provide the upset of the tournament. Bob Woolmer's death following this defeat put the tournament under total gloom. And the botched up investigations made things worse.
Memories of the on-field actions, very few. Dwayne Leverock's earth-shaking catch to dismiss Robin Uthappa, Herschelle Gibbs' 6 sixes in an over, Malinga's 4 in 4 when South Africa nearly choked (couldn't resist using this word). Lara's farewell words (Did I entertain you ?). And then there was the Easter Sunday special match slated to be India vs Pakistan. Only it was Bangladesh and Ireland instead who turned out to play.
The final match between Australia and Sri Lanka summed up the utter chaos of the tournament. Rain reduced the match to 38 overs a side (a completely wrong decision in my opinion, the finals should have lasted the full duration). And further rain led to the last few overs being played in complete darkness as the match officials forgot the playing conditions (minimum 20 overs had been bowled already). And the most tragic part was that these were the best umpires available. Australia won in the end after another undefeated run through the tournament.
The Irish team provided the story of the Cup tieing with Zimbabwe, beating Pakistan and reaching the Super 8s. There was this great story of the players having to extend their leaves from their respective workplaces so that they could continue playing.
Overall a totally forgettable and chaotic tournament.

With this ends my world cup memories series of posts. Hoping to have a very pleasurable 2011 World Cup.

The Indian Injury Conspiracy

India vs Bangladesh Test Series, 2010

As expected the Indians are on their way to a 2-nil victory over Bangladesh in the Idea Cup Test Series. Cricket Wise it was a decent performance. Barring the the odd hiccup here and there, its been more or less a comfortable victory in terms of the field performance. But there is something else which is worrying me here.

Prior to first Test Dhoni & Harbhajan get injured, but they recover in time for the second and were not really missed. But after that the story gets grim.

Sreesanth - Hamstring injury (normal injury for any fast bowler)

Laxman - Hand (never heard of Laxman missing Tests due to injury)

Yuvraj Singh - Wrist Ligament Damage

Dravid - Broken Jaw (Hit on the side of the helmet while batting)

Tendulkar - Shoulder (while fielding)

And all this just prior to the South African series which is being billed as the "World Championship of Test Cricket" (with the top 2 ICC ranked Test teams taking on each other). The entire Indian middle order is injured and in doubt for the the tests against South Africa.

Is this a mere coincidence or are the South Africans performing some sort of Voodoo/Dark Arts/Black Magic/Witchcraft/Sorcery on our team? (Or are the Pakistanis involved following the IPL auction?)

Just wondering...

An "Ordinary" Win

Bangladesh vs India, 1st Test, Chittagong, January 17th-21st 2010

This was supposed to be a pretty boring & one-sided series with Test cricket's top ranked team taking on the bottom ranked one. But from the start, actually from the build-up itself, it was anything but boring.

Virender Sehwag started the pre-game hype by calling Bangladesh an "ordinary" team who weren't capable of taking 20 wickets in a match. His words were met with uproar. Bangladeshi captain Shakib-al-Hasan questioned India's No. 1 rating saying that Australia & South Africa were better. Their coach Siddons said that Sehwag's words would "come back and bite him in the bum". It was funny to have such a big war of words before an India-Bangladesh Test Series.

India lost the services of Dhoni & Harbhajan before the game & Sehwag led in Dhoni's place. India were put into bat. And were shot out for 243 with Shakib taking Sehwag's wicket. Sachin Tendulkar's unbeaten century saved it from being a complete disaster. Bangladesh in reply in big trouble before Mahmudullah & Rahim bailed them out and they ended up one run behind the Indian score. Second time around India batted much better with Gambhir getting a hundred. They declared and set a target 415 for the home team. Mushfiqur Rahim scored a century in vain as Bangladesh lost by 113 runs.

The match was played under foggy conditions with bad light ending it prematurely on all days. Sehwag's statement really hyped up this match. In the end he was proved right that Bangladesh could not manage 20 wickets against India but they ran them close in the first innings. However it must be said that somehow the Indian team gave the feeling that they were never out of control in the game.

There were some good performances from both sides. Sachin's 1st innings century (which got him the Man of the Match award); Shakib & Shahdat's 5-wicket hauls; Mahmudullah-Rahim partnership; Ishant's bowling, Amit Mishra's nightwatchman 50 & 7 wickets, Gambhir continuing his golden run with another century; and finally Mushfiqur Rahim's fighting last innings hundred.

Coming up in the second match, the limelight would be on Gautam Gambhir. He has scored a century in his last 5 tests & could equal Sir Don Bradman's run of 6 consecutive centuries. With fifties in his last 10 tests, he is one behind Viv Richards's record of 11 consecutive fifties. Now that would be a nice company for sharing records.