The End of a Long Journey !

The men in blue had to wait for 33 years to score a test win against the Kiwis in their home ground. This long journey saw many Indian cricket legends come & go. Finally, the elusive victory was achieved today by the Pride of Jharkhand backed by a mix bag of experienced fab-3 and young guns. Congrats to Dhoni and his team for a great victory !

Kiwis batting performance in the fist inning was disappointing. However, their recovery after losing quick six-wickets was very remarkable- courtesy patient and impressive centuries by Ryder and Vettori. Flynn and Guptill made useful contributions in their second inning but it was McCullum who made sure the Black Caps wipe out the Indian lead and force the Blue Caps to bat again. O'Brien discovered a golden patch in the game when he successfully forced Dravid, Dhoni and Sachin to give their wickets away. His last delivery to Dravid was a beauty- sneaked though the narrow gap between his bat & pad to disturb the furniture. Martin did his share of damage when his sizzlers sent Gambhir, Laxman and Yuvraj packing.

Ishant's splendid performance consolidates our faith that the India can produce world-class pace bowlers. I see a glimpse of Glenn McGrath in this talented young boy. Lambu and Zak did their job by rattling the top & middle order while Munaf made sure that Kiwi tail (except Vettori) did not wag much. Sachin proved his critics wrong ... again ! After his 163(no) run scintillating performance in the third F50 match, the 160 run knock in this test proved that the Little Master is not going to hang his boots for at least 2-3 more years. I rather see these two tons as third prime-time of Master Blaster's long career. He now has total 84 centuries in his kitty ahead of Ponting's 63 tons and far beyond the reach of any other active player. Notable knocks by Gambir, Dravid Dhoni and Zak helped the Tigers build a comfortable 200+ lead. Bhajji's career-best (overseas) bowling performance in the second inning was awesome. This was Turbunator's 23rd 5for, making him #2 'active' bowler after Muralitharan in terms of 5-wickets hauls in test career. Way to go Bhajji !

Overall it was a great test match- worth watching on my laptop till 1am every morning. Congrats to the Indian team for a fabulous win ... cheers !!!

It's raining EXCUSES now !

I am sure everyone enjoyed Sehwag's run-shower (of Fours and Sixes) in Hamilton (NZ) during the 4th ODI match although other players and spectators had to go through the ordeal of getting wet under frequent rain-showers. I am glad that the downpour wasn't heavy enough to call the match off.

The Sri Lankan cricket board just proposed ICC to move the Champions trophy to South Africa. It seems that the weather gurus of Sri Lanka suddenly discovered that the mother nature will not be favorable 'this year' during any international cricket tournament on their home ground. On one hand we should commend them for expressing their worry six months in advance, on the other hand I feel sorry for their lame 'excuse' ! May be they got inspired by PCB- which is still hiding behind so many excuses in order to protect itself from the wrath of international sports media for not providing adequate security to a visiting team.

Every year, like in India - New Zealand series, so many cricket matches get affected by rain but this unpredictable interruption should not scare a host nation to raise their hands and give up ! I rather see this weather situation as an excuse by BCCSL to avoid organizing any international event in the wake of recent attacks in Lahore. It seems the hosts are not absolutely sure that they will be able to provide high quality security to all cricketers and spectators during the tournament. Since thier local terrorist outfit (T***l T****s) was named as one of the possible groups behind the attacks, the Lankans are playing it safe by not getting involved in an event which'll attract international media ... thereby not giving local miscreants any chance to cause any life-threatening trouble. Anyways, it would have been better if the Sri Lankan authorities had voiced their 'real' concerns rather then blaming it on their so-called unfavorable weather.

This 'change in venue' by the Lankans also highlights (again) the dire need to review IPL preparedness this year. The hasty decision by Lalit Modi to keep the show on without any 'major' security and scheduling changes may put this T20 tournament in jeopardy. Some of the venues for 2011 world cup may also change if the Cricket Community does not approve PCB to organize any match in Pakistan.

Anyways, I think so many (& frequent) incidents of "venue-change" may make South Asian countries less favorable in future for organizing international matches & tournaments. It never rains but it pours ... I am now more worried about the future of Cricket in the Indian SubContinent.

Forget cricket & let’s play the 'BLAME' game

Recent remarks of 'hands of foreign elements in Lahore attacks' by a former captain of a reputed cricket team prompted me to rethink about the various aspects of Cricket. I think that cricket is like a priceless necklace with just three gems- Batting, Bowling and Fielding. Also, these three aspects are held together by various threads like individual form, team strategy, sportsman spirit, play-fair thinking, competitiveness, zeal to win, unbiased umpiring etc etc. But by thinking that way I may be ignoring another popular dimension of this sport- The Blame Game.


Now lets play the Blame Game. Recent attack on the Sri Lankan team should be blamed on the Sri Lankan team itself- why were they not wearing bullet proof-vests and helmets when they knew that the host nation couldn't provide them adequate security. If Sri Lankan team protests, then we should blame the neighbouring countries for not perfectly securing their borders which prompted the host nation to move most of their security personnel from the match venue to their borders. If the neighboring countries don't respond then lets blame it on all other countries of the world. If they too had been playing Cricket then may be the terrorist would have attacked some other team somwhere else. If that strategy also doesn't work then lets blame it on our God(s)- why didn't he/she make all terrorist 20ft tall so that the security guys would have identified the attackers from a mile and would have quickly gunned them down right at the first sight. And if that also doesn't work then we must blame it on the RAIN. Had it rained that day, then everyone would have stayed in their Hotel Rooms- sipping chai, munching pakodas and watching IND-NZ matches on TV ... the attack would not have happened in the first place !


This new aspect of cricket- the 'blame game' is getting very popular now-a-days. Mostly this is practiced by the team which loses a match or the people who are associated with that losing team. To some extend, such games do divert attention of cricket lovers away from the crux of an issue. However, we need to make sure that we don't encourage such acts of stupidity by publicizing ignorant comments some people make to get media attention. I am sure no one wants to play, read and even hear about details of such blame games so lets not distracted by these statements and enjoy the excitement and entrainment this wonderful sport Cricket offers.

Guns & Roses

Following traditions is important and so is the need to keep the important traditions alive. The Chinese have maintained their tradition of using fireworks to welcome a New Year. People in India and in many other countries use gunfires to express their delight during weddings and other big celebrations & gatherings. Similar traditions with roses and other flowers are practiced around the world for expressing love, welcoming a guest or for saying Good Bye (& come again !) to friends, family members or visitors. Anyways, with development of human civilization we all have learned to follow similar non-verbal gestures as a part of our daily life. Some traditions stay on, some fade away and others get botched-up due to frequent abuse and become pain-in-the-neck for a society.

Terrorists have a totally different DNA than what normal people have. Their tradition is to use their gun-power to take away the joy, peace and celebrations from others lives and that's what happened again- it was the Sri Lankan cricket team which was at the receiving end this time. The bouquet of roses was replaced by a bunch of grenades and the garland of flowers was conveniently substituted by volley of bullets - a unique way to welcome and farewell (to never come again ?) simultaneously. As a guest team, the SriLankan deserved good hospitality along with a top-notch security shield. The former expectation was well taken care of by the terrorists and it's apparent that the latter necessity was virtually non-existent- courtesy the local cricket board. On one hand we might be feeling relieved that there was no serious injuries in the Sri Lankans squad but on the other hand I think we feel sorry for those security personnel who lost their lives while providing protection to the visitors. Although a few lives were lost but the spirit of Cricket got completely decimated for sure. Anyways, the attackers I guess were a bit successful in achieving what they wanted- reestablish terror in local society, international media attention, screw up relationships of the host nation with other cricket playing countries and a bleak future of international sports in their region. The host nation now have a Herculean task of rebuilding their dented reputation since they might get isolated by all other countries pretty soon. I'll be surprised if there will be any international cricket match in that region in the near future- unless some terrorist outfits get high on drugs and decide to field their own cricket team against the local goons.

This episode of attack on sportsmen has now opened a new chapter in the history of Cricket- let’s hope this chapter remains as small as possible. Also, it now forces us to worry more about the local security rather than the weather or quality of pitches. This was the first time this kind of act happened in cricket- but this may not be the last one. ICC must act (along with other Cricket Boards) to take this event very seriously and take necessary steps to help prevent such a shameful mishap in future. Using neutral locations for international matches can be one solution ... may be Sharjah or Dubai 'll see some renewed interest as an alternate destination.

Cricket was once known as a gentleman's game still boasts some of the good old traditions. There are many batsmen who still walk towards the pavilion if they think they were out- without even looking at umpire(s). Many honest bowlers still don't appeal if they the playing batsmen were safe. Anyways, the long tradition of playing a fair game is slowly catching up and the other important tradition of keeping Cricket a family oriented Fun & Entertainment (and yet competitive) activity should be promoted worldwide.

Making "high & reliable security" as a #1 priority now and enforcing it as a mandatory prerequisite (before even thinking about organizing a match) will go a long way to keep the treasured traditions of cricket alive.

Winning: Is it all about Partnerships?

After men in blue tasted bitter defeat in the first T20 with the Kiwis, their unsuccessful fight back in the second T20 match was a good consolation- not to mention that I had to stay awake till 4am (EST) to see the last-over drama. Although, the win in first ODI yesterday was a well-deserved redemption but they have miles to go before they make this tour a grand success. So in a cricket match, what makes one team better than the other one? Is the strong batting lineup or is the form of paces and spinners? Does the presence of legendary players makes a game one sided or does the young-guns-on-fire tilts the balance. May be it's the quality of Pitch or the Toss? Or may be its crucial partnerships- as Dhoni quipped at Napier.

The simple game of Cricket looks so complex the moment we start looking into so many factors which influence the outcome of the game. Anyways, I think it's the positive frame of mind and confidence which helps a team perform well- in terms of individual performance, building partnerships and being aggressive in batting, bowling and fielding.

Without underestimating the opposition, A team should think (not talk !) as if they were the best and eventually they'll win. The team which takes this attitude to a little higher level unfortunately becomes a big-headed side thereby risking of losing games unnecessarily- something which the Indians did at Wellington. But weren’t the Kiwis positive of their victory prospects at Napier after their resounding victory over the Indians in the previous two T20s? Yes, but they were far outshined by the renewed confidence in the Indian team. The men in blue learned (again) that they need to go back to basics and focus on scoring runs rather than entertaining the crowd with their frequent fireworks of 4s and 6es. And let’s not forget the Sachin-Ala-Re factor … the maestro is a huge confidence booster- both on and off field for them. Anyways, as expected, great bowling by Bhajji & Zak. Also, the game saw a good comeback by Praveen although his deliveries still lose their fizz as the new ball ages. Sometimes I feel the best part of a match is the first ten over of Indian batting because the rockets launched by Veeru are just spectacular and are worth watching again & again on YouTube. Dhoni's gamble of playing at a higher batting order has been working fine lately and Raina's good form indicates that his unspoken mission of scoring the longest Six might come true this year. Amidst all, I seriously missed watching Gambhir taking the shine off the new ball … I hope he’ll be back soon.

Anyways, it was an entertaining game although the Lord Indra did show his untimely display of his powers thinking the Indian Tigers will meow again. The Indian team has now a renewed confidence which they need to maintain but now let’s see how the Kiwis fight back