Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy 2018: Super League Jharkhand Review

Jharkhand had a poor run in the Super League winning one and losing three of their four games to finish bottom of the table. They did come close against Rajasthan but were absolutely flattened against Karnataka.

Absentees: Dhoni (MIA) Ishank Jaggi (injury)

Game 1: Mumbai 170/5 (20) beat Jharkhand 157/7 (20) by 13 runs

Key Performers: Virat Singh 81 (49), Saurabh Tiwary 32(22), Nadeem 1/23

Game 2: Jharkhand 157/5 (20) lost to Rajasthan 158/6 (19.1) by 4 wickets

Key Performers: Nadeem 27 (22) & 1/18, Ishan Kishan 39(36), Virat Singh 43 (28), Aaron 2/24

• Nadeem batting 1 down was a surprise!

Game 3: Punjab 149/7 (20) lost to Jharkhand 150/6 (19.3) by 4 wickets

Key Performers: Kaushal Singh 3/26 & 29(31), Varun Aaron 2/20, Ishan Kishan 54 (29)

Got to see the Jharkhand team in action on live TV after a long time. Only watched the second half of the game though! Key takeaways:

• Ishan Kishan needs a little more consistency for a call-up to the national squad – given that his direct competitors are Rishabh Pant & Sanju Samson!
• Manpreet Gony hurling abuses at little Ishan Kishan after being hit all over the park! While Harbhajan Singh gives a pat on the back after having bowled him. Good example of what is “spirit of cricket” and what is not?
• Kaushal Singh looks a wannabe Saurabh Tiwary, who used to be a wannabe MS Dhoni!
• Punjab’s fielding left a lot to be desired.
• And Nadeem seems to be specializing as a pinch-hitter now!

Game 4: Karnataka 201/4 (20) beat Jharkhand 78 (14.2) by 123 runs

Key performers: Vikash Singh 25 (16) coming in at No.10! 7 Varun Aaron scoring 3 off 30 balls.

Special Mention: Karun Nair got a 100 for the opposing side!

Season Stats

• Top Scorer: Ishan Kishan 273 runs
• Most Wickets: Monu Kumar 12
• Player Count: 15

So the auditions for the coming IPL Auctions are done. Let’s see which of the Jharkhand Auction XI has caught the eye of the scouts!

India: 500 Not Out

India play their 500th Test match at Kanpur against the Kiwis. Could have been just another game but cricket (and its fans) love statistics. So becomes one of the most significant games in India's Test history. To celebrate this milestone, its time to pick up an XI of India's most memorable moments in the Test arena.

Disclaimer - The memories are the ones which happened on my watch. So all are post 1989 or as we cricket tragics mark the event, after Sachin Tendulkar's debut.

1. That Partnership at Eden Gardens, 2001

The greatest turnaround in the history of the game at one of its greatest centers against an all-conquering Australian side who were treating the series as the "Final Frontier". They were well on their way to achieve their goal till they were stopped in their tracks by VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. The 4th day's play was not just match or series turning, it permanently instilled a belief in all Indian fans that miracles do happen.

2. The Chase in Chennai, 2008

By itself it would be remembered as one of our greatest victories. India chased down 387 with Sachin Tendulkar hitting the winning runs after Sehwag had given a turbo-powered start to the chase. But then it wasn't just any other game, being played in the aftermath of the horrific Mumbai attacks. Sometimes sport can provide just that bit of healing touch to a whole nation.

3. Adelaide, 2003

Rahul Dravid hitting the winning runs on the 5th day. An image firmly etched in the memories of the Indian fan. Australia had scored big, but they ran into a pair of familiar foes. The Dravid-VVS combo ensured that both teams are on equal footing after the first innings. And then the much maligned Ajit Agarkar produced his best spell of Test match bowling to knock out the Australians. And he was there at the other end with Dravid to see it through to the end.

4. Edgbaston, 2002

On a green pitch, India chose to bat first and the English team had the absolute privilege of being the only team to witness centuries from Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly in the same innings. And they followed it by slumping to an innings defeat against the spin duo of Kumble & Harbhajan on a green top.

5. The Monkeygate Test, Sydney, 2008

A match India lost on the field but where on-field incidents spilled over threatening diplomatic relations. Players were called over for investigations by international judges into racial abuse. There were umpiring controversies galore and accusations of cheating. Questions were raised on the very spirit of the game. The Australians seemed rattled as Anil Kumble declared that "there was only one team playing in the spirit of the game", reminding them of Bodyline time. It was ugly. And after all that the Indians bounced back to win the next one at Perth. Karma. Probably.

6. Sreesanth's six off Andre Nel, Johannesberg, 2006

S. Sreesanth, one of the biggest enigmas of Indian cricket. A freakish talent which went to waste. Amongst his achievements, the one stand-out would be to shut up Andre Nel. And he did it in his own maverick style. Hits a six, runs off to the other end and then starts... dancing!!! Leaving Nel bemused and everyone else rolling in laughter. And he also picked up 8 wickets in the game to win India's first ever Test victory in South Africa.

7. Declared at 194, Multan, 2004

The match had it all. India's first Test victory in Pakistan. Sehwag establishing his legendary status by hitting India's first ever Test triple. And Dravid declaring with Sachin batting at 194. Something which the stat-hungry Indian fan could not get his head around. But all's well that ends well.

8. Kapil Dev's Blitzkrieg off Eddie Hemmings, Lords, 1990
You need 24 runs to avoid the follow-on. And you have a genuine number 11 for company at the other end. So what do you do? If you are Kapil Dev, you take matters into your own hand and just hammer 4 consecutive sixes. And Hirwani at the other end promptly got out the very next ball. Couldn't prevent a defeat but it was heroic. Personally, me missed out following most of Kapil Dev's glorious career and only remember the dragged out ending in pursuit of Hadlee's Test record.

9. Kumble's Perfect 10, Kotla, 1999
On a pitch which had been dug up a few weeks before, Anil Kumble produced one of those freakish spells of bowling, taking out all 10 Pakistani wickets in the 2nd innings and squaring up the series. And wiping off some of the bad memories of the previous game at Chennai.

10. The Chennai heart-break, 1999
One of the heart-breaking results for an Indian fan. Sachin Tendulkar nearly pulled off a 4th innings chase all by himself. But the tail could not finish up the job. India were left 12 short off what would have been a sensational victory against arch-rivals Pakistan.

11. Bludgeoned in Bridgetown, 1997
For an Indian fan, the 90s were really tough to watch, especially when India was playing abroad. We just couldn't get an overseas test victory (not even in Zimbabwe). So when India got a target of 120 against West Indies, it seemed the elusive overseas victory would be finally achieved. But the pace trio of Ambrose, Bishop and Rose had other plans as India were blown away for 81. That overseas victory would have to wait a few more years.

And the 12th Man. The Test that wasn't, Centurion, 2001
Two full-strength national sides taking on each other in a five day clash played under Test match conditions but not being called a Test match. The aftermath of the Mike Denness affair had led to India lodging a protest. ICC did not withdraw the referee. So India and South Africa got a different referee. ICC removed Test status from the game (but it was still a first class game). This could have been Dravid's captaincy debut. And for poor Connor Willaims, this was his only match for India and could have been his debut. He never payed another international. And the Kanpur Test would have been India's 501st.

And the ones which did not make to the list - Irfan Pathan's first over hat-trick against Pakistan, Sehwag's 293 against Sri Lanka, Zaheer Khan's jellybean incident, Kumble bowling with a broken jaw, Dravid's Sabina Park exploits, Harbhajan's 2001 series. And many, many more.

Hopefully many more will come in over the coming years.

The Eden Gardens winning moment

Ajinkya Rahane: The Quick Turnaround or Setup for Failure

June 20, 2015 

Ajinkya Rahane is dropped from the playing XI for the second ODI against Bangladesh. Captain Dhoni explains the decision "We have seen that he plays a lot better on pitches that have some pace. But on a slow pitch, whenever he has batted at No. 4 or 5, he does have a problem in freely rotating the strike at the start of his innings. I think Ajinkya will have to wait."

June 29, 2015

Ajinkya Rahane is appointed captain of the Indian team to tour Zimbabwe.

That must have been one of the quickest turnaround in player fortunes ever witnessed in the history of the game. From being dropped to being appointed captain albeit of a team which has rested most of the senior players, within a week must be some sort of a record. Also does his elevation imply that he is on pole as Virat Kohli's deputy in Tests?

But from the squad selected for the series, one gets a feeling that Rahane has almost been up for failure. A victory against Zimbabwe will mean nothing, even if achieved with a second string team. However, failure to win might end up some careers. 

The absence of a genuine wicket-keeper is an obvious hole in the squad. Seems like we might be going back to post-Mongia period when the keeping duties became a musical chairs with many new keepers (Prasad, Karim, Dasgupta, Dahiya, Dighe, Ratra, Patel) being tried and ultimately the job getting handed to a specialist batsman like Dravid.

There are two intriguing selections - Harbhajan Singh and Manoj Tiwary. Picking up Harbhajan seems a sign that his rehabilitation into the national squad is complete, although no numbers justify his cause, and also shows the paucity of spin options in the country. Manoj Tiwary makes his umpteenth comeback into the national squad. In fact the man has made more comebacks than play actual games for the country. Seems to be one destined to be forever on the fringes and yet is always there on the fore-front when the seniors take a break.

In all, lots of weird selections. The chosen ones have to perform well. But good performance will only ensure that they stay on the fringes because the places will be taken up by returning senior players. And if they perform badly, they will be out of reckoning for quite some time (Case in point, the team picked for the 2010 tour to Zimbabwe). And Rahane as captain, certainly has his task cut out, with his own place (in limited overs) at stake as well. 

The 1st World T20 Final

“In the Air...Sreesanth… Takes It…India WINS” – boomed Ravi Shastri as Misbah-ul-Haq’s attempted scoop shot was caught much short of its intended destination. And with that final act, India became the inaugural World Twenty20 champions.

For the Indian fan, it was a perfect finale to a near-perfect event. A world tournament final victory, coming over your historical arch-rivals was just the balm needed to heal the wounds from the ODI World Cup earlier in the year.

The tournament had been a grand spectacle. Music, player introductions, bowl-outs, fireworks and dancing cheerleaders were some of the innovations which were well received by the audience. For the marketing men, the final was a dream match-up like the perfect icing on the cake. The finalists— India and Pakistan – historical arch-rivals, both seeking redemption for their respective horrendous show in the ODI World Cup. They had played a thrilling tie earlier in the tournament which India won 3-nil in a bowl-out.

India suffered a setback before the start with Virender Sehwag missing the final through injury. In came debutant Yusuf Pathan as his replacement. Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat first. Pathan began his international career in a spectacular fashion launching the very second ball he faced from Asif into the stands but he fell soon after. Gautam Gambhir played a steady hand while wickets fell regularly at the other end.  The most memorable moment of the innings arrived when Gambhir smashed a six straight into the scoreboard. “That’s one way to get the scoreboard moving” was the gem from the commentary box. India ended up with a seemingly below-par total of 157.

Pakistan should have chased this in a canter but the World Cup final has its own pressures. Tight bowling and fielding combined with some reckless shots had handed over the initiative to India. The Indian fans thought the match was in the bag but Misbah had other ideas. There was a flurry of big shots while wickets kept falling at the other end.

Pakistan needed 13 runs off the last over with Misbah on strike and only one wicket remaining. Here Dhoni made the crucial choice. He handed the ball to Joginder Sharma ahead of the much more experienced Harbhajan Singh. Dhoni’s sheer gut feeling seemed to be the only logical explanation for this choice as Joginder bowled a wide and then was hit for a straight six. Everyone’s nerves were all over the place and Misbah seemed to be the only calm one. And then the third ball of the over. Misbah tried the scoop shot, the ball seemed to have been hit perfectly rising in the air as we saw the crowds in the background. With bated breath, we saw the ball begin its descent. Was it going to cross the boundary or was it falling short? The ball came down and landed safely into the hands of the waiting short fine leg fielder. Misbah was down to his haunches and the Indian team was celebrating.

I was watching the game with some hundred others in my college common room, which had never been so crowded before. There had been a hushed silence with everyone doing their best not to jinx the Indian team by any sort of movement. Sressanth caught the ball and the whole room erupted. An instant party followed.

All thoughts of assignments and submissions for the next day had gone for a toss. They would wait. After all we were now the World Champions.

P.S. - This article was written as part of the ongoing #BeACricketWriter Contest being conducted by Harsha Bhogle

Ranji Trophy 2012-13: The Jharkhand Campaign

Match Summary: Jharkhand (401 & 33/0) drew with Punjab  (699/3d)

Punjab qualify to semi-finals on 1st innings lead basis.

On a flat track in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand were heavily outbatted by the Harbhajan Singh led Punjab team. Jharkhand's 1st innings was held up by Nemat & Jaggi's centuries while Akhash Verma & Saurabh Tiwary failed to replicate their earlier form and went out cheaply. In reply the Jharkhand attack was toothless in front of the Punjab batsmen with Taruwar Kohli leading the way with an unbeaten triple century. (Incidentally I have witnessed VVS Laxman scoring a triple on this very ground). With Punjab having secured a conclusive lead, the rest of the match meandered into a draw.

With this the Jharkhand campaign has come to an end. To reach the quarter-finals without any big names would be a tremendous achievement, specially given last year's performances. Group C was the easier of the 3 groups but qualification certainly wasn't given the topsy-turvy season that Jharkhand had. Next season they will be up against the big boys having been promoted. Hopefully the team will build on the success of this season.

Well Done Shahbaz Nadeem & company. It was really satisfying following your innings in this Ranji season. Also Tarak Sinha, the coach is now doing wonders with the Jharkhand team after taking Rajasthan to 2 Ranji titles

Season Stats

Top Batsmen 

1. Saurabh Tiwary - 602 runs @46.31 including 2 centuries 

2. Ishank Jaggi - 465 runs @42.27 with one century

3. Rameez Nemat - 419 runs @34.92 with one century

Top Bowlers

1. Shahbaz Nadeem - 42 wickets @25.98 

2. SS Rao - 26 wickets @24.65

3. Sunny Gupta - 25 wickets @31.48

Special mention must be made of newcomer Ajay Yadav who took 23 wickets including 2 ten-wicket match hauls. From cattle-grazer to playing a leading role in a couple of Jharkhand victories. This is a truly inspiring story.

Just Another Loss...

Since the World Cup 2011, the Indian team has been on a downward spiral. And just when you thought they couldn't go down any further, they prove you wrong. 

The Post World Cup record speaks for itself. 

• Barely won in West Indies (1-nil in Tests, & 3-2 in ODIs). Excuse - bunch of new players sent. But no excuse can cover up abandoning the chase in Dominica (86 required in 15 overs with 7 wickets in hand).
• Hammered in England (Tests 4-0, T20s 1-0, ODIs 3-0 with 1 tied). Excuse - Lots & lots of injuries. 
• Whitewashed England at home. The sole high of the last one year.
• At home beat West Indies 2-0 with 1 test tied draw. 4-1 win in ODIs. 
• 4-nil hammering in Australia. The Aussie team itself was in a state of transition (They lost a home test to new Zealand). And yet we lost. Excuse - none
• A couple of fighting wins in the initial 2 rounds of the CB series, before the hammering starts again.  And we hurtled from one defeat to another. Excuse - none.

A truly miserable record. The personnel havent changed much over the last one year. Harbhajan Singh is the only key change in the playing unit. How come all the others have lost their form together. Has Gary Kirsten's departure affected the team so much?

The team needs a drastic overhaul. But do the selectors have the guts to make the changes. Can some of the big guys be given the Harbhajan treatment? 

P.S. About the mankading, obstructing the field. handling the ball incidents. All I can say is this "Spirit of Cricket" business is pure hypocrisy, which shouldn't be existing in professional sport.

P.P.S. Brilliant time for other sports to make a mark in the national consciousness. The hockey team just did that too qualifying for the Olympic finals with a thumping 8-1 win over France.

P.P.P.S. This might just end being the last post here. I hope it doesn't though. 

Ranji Trophy 11-12: Jharkhand Update

The first 2 rounds of the 2011-12 season of the  Ranji Trophy are over. There have been big scores (including a triple century) some close draws, some boring draws, rare outright wins, a few weather interventions. There were 2 highly interesting games. Maharashtra beating Hyderabad by an innings in a low scoring crazy shootout to rival the one in Newlands. And the absolutely rivetting draw between Tamil Nadu & Haryana where all 4 results were possible till the end.

It seems to me that the domestic season is attracting quite a bit of attention this time around. I can think of a couple of reasons for this increased awareness. The first is the presence of big names in the tournament. The performance of recent India rejects & hopefuls like Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, the Pathan brothers and others are being keenly watched. Long retired Saurav Ganguly is stil motivated enough to play for Bengal. Also thanks to the IPL, the domestic players are not all anonymous entities. Players like Rajat Bhatia, Mithun Manhas are no longer unfamiliar names. There is better coverage of the games. Cricinfo keeps updating scores on a regular basis. The twitter handle @Ranjiscores is also doing a great job of providing regular updates on the games happening all over the country.

Now a performance review of my team Jharkhand playing in the Plate League Group B. So far has played 2 games against Hyderabad and Jammu & Kashmir, both away. 

In the first game against Hyderabad, Jharkhand conceded a big first innings lead after bowling first, which more or less sealed the game result. Game ended in a draw with Hyderabad getting 3 points and Jharkhand 1. The first day was affected by weather. The standout performers for the team were Ishank Jaggi (81 in the first innings) and Amir Hashmi (68) with the bat while SS Rao picked 6 and Shahbaz Nadeem picked 3 wickets. 

The 2nd game against Jammu & Kashmir in Srinagar was badly hit by the weather with no play at all on the 2nd and 3rd days. As neither team could complete the 1st innings also, both were given 2 points each. Samar Quadri & Shahbaz Nadeem picked 2 wickets apiece while Manish Vardhan got a quickfire half century.

Nothing much can be read from these results though the team is lying bottom of the table with 3 points fom 2 games. Ishank Jaggi & Shabaz Nadeem seem in decent form while captain Saurabh Tiwary's indifferent run across all formats continues. Team certainly seems to be missing the pace of Varun Aaron in the bowling department, while chances of Dhoni playing a Ranji game in the near future appear very remote. 

Coming up next in the league stage are

17-20 Nov: Maharashtra

29 Nov - 2 Dec : Assam

6-9 Dec: Goa

India vs West Indies Test 1 - Thoughts

It was much closer than it should have been. India in India (with an amazing record of just 2 losses in last 20 home games) taking on West Indies who have been struggling anywhere and everywhere against anyone and everyone. The first test in Kotla provided further proof that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. Here are the thoughts at the end of the game.

• A home test without Harbhajan Singh and a revamped bowling lineup. His direct replacement Ashwin takes 9 wickets and picks up the Man of the Match on debut. The other spinner Ojha making a comeback picks 7 including 6 in the 1st innings. Add Harbhajan's miserable performance against Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy, the chances of a comeback soon become a bit dimmer. (In the same game another Indian discard RP Singh picked a Michelle while Suresh Raina scored a double hundred).
• Chris Gayle was missing a result of too many ego clashes amongst West Indies cricket stakeholders. Don't know who to blame here. The board, the players's association or Gayle himself?
• Another exclusion was of Ramnaresh Sarwan. This was a case quite similar to Harbhajan's. Born 10 days apart, both have great reputations, formidable records and a lousy current form and both out of their national teams.
• Shivnaraine Chanderpaul was there as usual tormenting India as he has been doing since time immemorial. Probably the ugliest batting style in the whole cricketing world and also the most effective in blunting any bowling attack. But India are rendered especially toothless against him.
• I like Darren Sammy. Many may say that he doesn't deserve to be in the team. But his dedication cannot be faulted. Bowls his heart out, takes the wickets, gets a few quick runs when his team needs them and is doing an excellent job captaining the West Indies team. I guess West Indies cricket needs players like Sammy more than Gayle.
• India's collapse in the 1st innings was the reason that this test got all exciting. India still went on to win can say a lot about India's fighting spirit or West Indies's incompetence. Your pick.
• Dhoni became the 1st Indian to reach 200 test dismissals whereas Mark Boucher just took his 500th Test catch. Also Dhoni remained not out on 0 in the 2nd innings. Hope nobody accuses him of remaining not out to boost his batting average this time around.
• Sehwag was off to his murderous starts. Knocked a big chunk off the chase almost as soon as it got started both times around. 
• Dravid was there doing his typical "Back to the Wall" jobs in both innings. He lost his crown of most 4th innings runs to Tendulkar though.
• VVS Laxman was there to see another 4th innings chase through.
• The stage was set. I had actually dreamed up the scenario as well. The ball bowled slightly outside offstump and it gets punched through the covers for a boundary. The crowds giving a standing ovation as India reached victory with the same shot as Sachin Tendulkar reached his 100th international 100. But alas, it wasn't meant to be... (Aside - SRT refused to take a legbye and was out LBW a couple of balls later in the same Bishoo over). The wait continues.

Now over to Kolkata.

The 2000th Test - Day 2 Thoughts

Some weird scenes, quite a bit of struggle and some pretty good cricket. These are the thoughts which come into mind after the second day's play at Lords.

• First up the man who scored a double hundred. Kevin Pietersen just about survived thorugh his first few runs on Day 1, then struggled through to his hundred, may or may not have been out caught by Dravid at leg slip but in the end not just stayed on but hammered his way through to an unbeaten double hundred.
• Praveen Kumar was not even considered as Test material till lots of injuries and rests got him selected against the West Indies. And today with Zaheer injured, Ishant and Harbhajan totally clueless about how to take a wicket he led the attack, took a five-for and got his name put on the Lord's honours board. And more importantly bowled almost throughout the dayl.
• Dhoni and Dravid. Given the way his attack was performing, Dhoni himself came onto bowl and didnt do a bad job either. While in his place Dravid came up behind the stumps after many years and again didn't do too bad a job there. Kapil Dev has called this act a mockery of Test cricket. With all due respect to him I dont see how this is the case. Its not as if they started the day with Dhoni bowling. He came only after one full session had been played. A team is struggling and is going about with different options about taking a wicket. In fact to me it showed that like true champion sides, the current Indian team is willing to adjust and adapt to difficult situations.
• Ishant & Harbhajan. Totally ineffective. Combined figures of none for 280 from 67 overs is certainly not a good sign.
• Eoin Morgan's dismissal. On first glance everybody says its out. Morgan himself walks off. Then the Hotspot pictures come in and say the ball brushed the pad but no mark on the bat. If the decision had been challenged it would certainly had been reversed. Only issue Morgan walked off and did not review it because he thought he had edged it. So the incident pretty much opens up the DRS debate again. Technology is certainly not perfect.
• Zaheer's injury just showed how much off a difference he makes to the attack. England can call up Bresnana, Finn, Shahzad if any of their fast bowlers get injured. Whom do we call up Sreesanth, Munaf, Mithun? Hoping he gets fit soon enough. Otherwise its Advantage England for winning the series.
• In the slipstream of Pieteresen's knock, the sledgehammer of eternal justice and this blog's mascot Ian Bell scored an elegant 46 laced with 6 hits to the fence (more on that in a later post).
• Indian openers survived the day. Lets see what they can achieve today.

The IPL Experience

April 22, 2011: IPL Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai.

Almost one year (362 days to be precise) to the date, I went to a stadium to watch the match. And it was between the same two teams as last time. The location and result were diiferent though. An unplanned trip to Wankhede, (or rather planned very late in the day) certainly made it a "Good" Friday.

The Journey
There was a dash from my office in Navi Mumbai (yes, my office was open on the day when probably everyone else was on holiday). The dash felt like being part of "The Amazing Race". Auto ride, followed by a train ride, followed by a taxi and reached Wankhede, only to realize that had arrived at the wrong gate. Entry gate being at the opposite end of the stadium meant taking another train (might be sounding unbelievable but thats what it was), and then a little walk. Add the uncertainty of whether tickets had been arranged or not, and it made for a pretty mad cross-city dash. During the second train ride heard the famous IPL bugle and the roar of the crowd to signify that the game had started.
Despite all this managed to be inside the stadium, having missed only the first over, though Sathish was out by that time. By the time settled down into the seat, Sachin was also gone. Settled down for the rest of the game.

The Stadium
First up the stadium looked real good. The renovations for the World Cup were in place, which reminded me of the fact that barely 20 days before India had won the World Cup in this very place. The gaps between stands ensured the cool evening breeze from the sea. Though it also had the effect of killing most attempts at the Mexican wave. The gaps in the stands ensured that the Waves just broke out in between.

The Seat
Had a seat in the Sachin Tendulkar stand. Located at the "cow corner" for the right handed batsman opposite the pavilion. So any sideways movement of the ball was not visible. But spotting the ball running/flying around the ground wasn't difficult at all. The camera operated on the crane was creating quite a bit of nuisance though. It would often rear itself bang in the middle splitting the view of the pitch. The crane operator was definitely the most abused guy from our stand.

The Crowd
Stadium was packed and filled with blue shirts supporting the Mumbai Indians. A few yellow shirts could be seen here and there though. One of our party turned out be a Chennai Super Kings supporter."Is he a Chennai supporter?" was the query raised by a bunch of teenaged girls seated behind. On getting the answer in affirmative, it was followed by a non-stop hooting to the chants of "Chennai harega" with whistles & horns blasting through out. Personally, suffered some collateral damage as the hearing seemed to be gone for some time.
Have to add this, the crowd was quite well behaved throughout.

The Match
As for the match itself, a good innings by Rohit Sharma, a Michelle for Bhajji and some outstanding fielding throughout helped Mumbai to a 8 run victory. Badrinath played a lone hand for the Chennai Super Kings. And the crowd was happy with the result.

Other Random Thoughts

• Now I have seen our T20 world cup winning hero, Joginder Sharma (a.k.a Sir Jogi) bowl in person. Nothing more to say.
• The 10'o clock rule for loudspeakers was strictly followed. No music after the 10, but the crowd was noisy enough to make up for it.
• Time moves faster in the stadium. The strategic timeouts, gaps between overs, wickets just went by unnoticed.
• Must feel for the section of the crowd, which finds itself in front of a cheerleaders' stand only to find the cheerboys from CSK dancing there.

Overall Experience - Excellent

The IPL Begins

April 8, 2011. 6 days after the World Cup Finals, the 4th edition of the Indian Premier League is about to begin.  After the grand display of, umm...., "patriotism" over the past few weeks, its quite difficult to feel enthusiastic about the IPL. 

Given that there have been large scale changes in the personnel across most teams, the erstwhile player associations that I had have also disappeared. KKR without Dada, Dravid not playing for RCB, Gambhir not in DD, Yusuf Pathan in KKR colours. All this will take some time to rebuild. With the player associations gone finding a team to support has become slightly more difficult than it was earlier. (Here is a post I had written about the team I support in the IPL)

The one good thing about the IPL is that it has thrown up some new Indian talent every year. Lets see who we are going to see this year. I would certainly be following with interest the performances of a couple of Jharkhand players who won the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy. Varun Aaron, who reportedly bowled the fastest recorded ball by an Indian bowler, playing for Delhi Dareveils. Saurabh Tiwary is now a known face, while Ishank Jaggi is another one to watch. Other players to be followed Shadab Jakati, T Suman and Abhishek Nayar.

Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh playing in the same team. That would be something to be looked at.

The end of World Cup had left a void in the evening entertainment. Now the IPL is here to fill up that void.

Cheerleaders will be back :)

Unfortunately the IPL also will mark the arrival of "DLF maximums", "Citi Moments of Success" and similar other commentary tortures. Wondering if we get to see the "Marvel of Technology" the MRF Blimp this time?

So here is to the return of the cricket filled evenings.

P.S. The IPL and this post seem very trivial compared to the national movement going on right now. I support   Sh. Anna Hazare and the fight against corruption. Here is his letter to the Prime Minister of India. One man inspiring a country to stop and think. Total respect Sir.

10 Years of a Very Very Special Test

March 15th 2011 marks the 10th occasion of the greatest Indian Test victory of all time. Some other matches might have been landmarks in their own right, but none of them can compare to the 171 run victory over Australia in the Eden Gardens Test in 2001. Probably one of the greatest come from behind victories in all sport. India overturning  a near certain innings defeat against the seemingly invicble Aussies into a huge victory. Harbhajan's Singh's 13 wickets including the first ever Indian hat-trick, Rahul Dravid's magnificent 180 and over them both VVS Laxman's 281, the first and the most special of the many Very Very Special innings that he has come to conjure over the next decade. But above all that the Laxman-Dravid partnership has ensured that however grim the situation may look like, the Indian fan can still dare to hope. And for that the match will always remain VERY VERY SPECIAL.

Unadkat, Collingwood & other Dec 16 stories

First of all, congratulations to Jaidev Unadkat for becoming the 267th player to represent India in test match cricket. Interestingly he is the first player to have been born after Sachin Ttendulkar's international debut to play for India. (On a side note what happened to Abhimanyu Mithun?)

So Day 1 of the InSaf series, Indian batsman were knocked out with only the last pair of Dhoni & Unadkat holding fort. Its going to be one uphill climb for the Indian team. Though it was the Indians who were at the receiving end of it, I still loved the sight of the ball bouncing all around and the fast bowlers in full flow. Harbhajan Singh's weird runout was the highlight of the day. Morne Morkel took out Rahul Dravid to claim his 100th test wicket. Rahul Dravid scored just enough to cross Brian Lara as the 3rd highest run getter in Test history.

The day had started with the Aussies in trouble against the English in Perth (another fast bouncy track). The highlight of the day has to be Collingwood's catch to dismiss Ponting. Here is the picture of the day.