Archive for March 2009
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I have been watching cricket for 20 years. I have been following Indian cricket since that time and looking at the progress they have made its heartening. I am not going to claim that India is the best side in the world but I will for sure say that they are one of the most improved sides.
Watching Indian team during the nineties was one of the most frustrating experiances especially when they toured abroad. Indian team was very good at home beating all top sides consistantly under Azhar and then Sachin but when they toured abroad they were clueless.
During the 90’s and till Sourav took over the mantle India toured Australia twice, England twice, WI once, New Zealand twice, SA twice, Zim twice and never won a single test. I almost resigned to the fact that India cannot. I will mostly look for some good performances from induvidual players like Sachin scoring a hundred or Kumble taking a fifer something like that and be happy with that.
It was dissapointing as we were constantly pasted by Australia and SA and the Indians had no answers. The tag of poor travellers was rightly associated with the team. Ganguly took over the reigns in 2000 after the match fixing row and boy did India improve after that.
I am by no means suggesting that we are blasting teams out since then but we are a fighting unit since Ganguly took over. We have won a series in England and WI. Drawn a series in Australia, Won a test in SA, won in Perth, Won a series in Pakistan and so many others such wins. In the last 8 years are so except for few series here and there we have at least managed to win one test match everywhere we have played.
I feel that we richly deserve the No 3 tag which we currently hold. The team under Dhoni has merely carried the legacy that Sourav has left behind. I would attribute most of our current success to Sourav and Wright combination in the way they nurtured youngsters like Sehwag, Harbajan and Yuvraj who are important cogs in present Indian wheel.
Dhoni has been the perfect leader India has been looking for and even though Kumble and Dravid did their best to keep the team going Dhoni has actually moved it forward a notch. Its too early to praise Dhoni and call him great but what he has done in the last year or so cant be cast aside as fluke. Its the consistancy which has got India the No 3 ranking.
As an Indian supporter who has been following the team for 20 years now its been a wonderful journey. From a team who just made up the numbers while travelling abroad to the team who are expected to win abroad regularly. The Indian captain and coach realise that they arent the No 1 side yet and have to consistantly perform to reach the pinacle which is a good sign.
I thought the team under Sourav called themselves world beaters too soon. I am also happy for Sachin who went on numerous tours abroad without ever winning anything in the 90’s most often rescuing his team from absolute pastings. Standing alone amidst chaos. Also for the numerous other Indian greats in the Nineties like Azhar, Jadeja, Srinath etc who would be really proud of what this current Indian team has achieved.
It was very thoughtful of Dhoni to dedicate the win in New Zealand to the seniors. Contrary to what the media portrayed of Dhoni, he is very respectful of the seniors which was very much evident when he called Anil to collect the trophy when we won the series against the Aussies and also requested Ganguly to captain in the dying moments of his final test match. This humility and respect will go a long way in Dhoni having a successful career as a player and captain.
This is an article of a happy Indian fan who knows that India have improved leaps and bounds from the frustrating 90’s. I am not claiming my team to be the best in the world right now as Australia and SA deserve those positions through the consistancy they have displayed over the years but we are the most improved in world cricket by a distance.
I am really proud of this team. They might not win everything but they will for sure compete.
Tale of two teams
Posted on: March 23, 2009
England captain Andrew Strauss has a tough season ahead
Accepting having a problem is the first step towards improvement. This is what the Australians have done in the past one year. When they defeated WI 2-0 in a closely fought series the Australian captain said that his side is no longer going to roll over sides as they used to, few month before. This was a good assessment from the captain on the team which was finding it hard to replace few retired players. Australia beat New Zealand and then had the worst few months in the last decade when they were beaten both by India away and SA at home in tests.
South Africa also defeated them in the ODI’s to claim the top spot in the rankings. Australia though started experimenting with new players and quickly accepted that they have to do some serious rebuilding if they have to return to their dominating best. They did it admirably. The brought in Phil Hughes who is just 20 and Peter Siddle an unknown material in International cricket and then Hilfenhaus who played in few ODI’s before. They added Marcus North in the middle order who can bowl some useful off spinners and look where they are now.
Australia defeated the South Africans away 2-0 without the experience of Brett lee and Stuart Clarke. Ponting is now hailed as the genius who turned it around for the team from a guy who was bashed all around in the media last year and was also asked to step down. Australia back to No 1 spot in test cricket and looking impressive and I have no doubts in my mind that they will regain the Ashes.
The English though have gone the other way and currently are on a slippery slope. They are living in denial and don’t seem to be accepting the fact that they are at best No 5 in the ranking. They currently had a poor test series against a team who has not won a series in the last 5 years. The English team and the supporters though are full of excuses, blaming everything else except for themselves for the losses. England though hasn’t won against the top sides in tests since beating Australia in the Ashes in 2005.
That’s a long time ago considering the fact that they have been beaten by India, Australia and South Africa in tests both home and away. Their one day form is even worse. The problem with English cricket is that they always think they are better than what they are. They fail to give credit to the opponents and were so happy about the Australian slump last year that they forgot that they are in a bigger one. The Ashes is to start in a few months time and when we look at the progress of both the teams and we know who is clearly on top.
England fired Kevin Pieterson from captaincy after he had some sort of rift with the team members and coach. Considering that KP is only English player who is slightly different in approach from the other captains, it was a big blow for the team. They left to WI saying that it will be almost a walkover and it will be a good practice for the Ashes but what transpired in the last couple of months surely was not in Andrew Strauss’s script.
England lost the test series 1-0 and now has lost the Twenty20 badly. England has blamed everything after the test series loss and has currently lost on excuses for the Twenty20. They are currently tied in the one-day series 1-1 after they were beaten in the second game by 23 runs by the WI. They won the first game after a blunder from the WI coach who messed up the Duck-worth and Lewis calculation which handed England the game. I guess unless they accept their failure and do something drastic in the coming months, I don’t see them posing any challenge to the Aussies. Two separate approaches from two separate team managements and the difference is there to be seen.
I am thinking another bashing for the English team as they still live in constant denial. Anything other than an Australian win in the Ashes will be surprising and looks highly impossible.
Airtel Super Singer moves to western round this week and yes we still have 7 contestants. The judges decided to keep all the 7 after last week’s classical round as they felt that it was varying amount of training which separated the contestants. So they did not want to penalize the contestants for their lack of classical training.
This week though it’s going to be different as it is western round and I am sure there is going to elimination. This round will be interesting and I think Vijay and Prasanna will be really relieved after they scraped through classical round.
This round will be strong point for Prasanna and Vijay and I expect them to sail through. I watched few rushes from the show and it seems like Anupama will be the chief guest of the show. They showed performances of Ravi, Ranjani and Vijay in the trailer and it seems like they rocked the stage with their performances. At least Ravi and Vijay did, I am not sure about Ranjani though.
It will be interesting to see Ajeesh and Renu perform in this round as I feel that they will be the ones who might not get spot selected. Raghini and Prasanna might have it easy in this round but I am not sure if they will be spot selected.
Well let’s wait and see what transpires in today’s show. I am expecting a fun round and hopefully it will be great.
Harbajan claims 6-63 as India crush New Zealand to win the first test by 10 wickets
India hammers New Zealand to win their first test on Kiwiland after 33 years. It was a clinical performance from this Indian team as they thrashed the hosts by 10 wickets. Gautam Ghambir hit the winning runs as India reached the target of 39 runs in just 5.2 overs. Daniel Vettori and the New Zealand team will be aware that they have been beaten by the better team.
The pitch was really flat and New Zealand began the fourth day on 75/3 with Ross Taylor and Flynn at the crease. The Indian bowlers persisted hard and kept the balls in the right areas to induce false strokes from the Kiwi batsmen. Munaf removed Taylor for 4 to leave New Zealand 4 down and then it was Bajji show all the way. Harbajan demolished the Kiwi middle and lower order to leave them 199/8 with Brendon Mccullum stranded at one end with Ian O’Brien to join him.
Harbajan took his first fifer against the Kiwis and his first here in New Zealand. It was a great performance from Bajji considering that the pitch wasn’t suitable to spin bowling. The wicket was pretty flat and it was the variations which Harbajan had which caused the home batsmen to make mistakes. There was a frustrating partnership between Mccullum and O’Brien which took the Kiwis to 275 but once it was broken their innings folded up pretty quickly on 279. Mccullum was the last man out for 84 caught by Laxman of Yuvraj to leave the Indians to get 39 runs to win the game.
This was a great win by the Indians considering the pre-tour reports where it was said that the Indians would struggle in New Zealand. It seems like India will win this series if they play to their potential. Sachin Tendulkar received the man of the match award for his sublime 160 in the first innings which helped India to gain a 240 run lead over the Kiwis. It was a total team effort and rightly acknowledged by the skipper in the post match interview.
This is yet another feather in the cap for Dhoni after the T20 world cup and CB series in Australia. It will be better if India manage to win the test series. The teams meet again in a few days in Napier for the second test match and I would expect India to play an unchanged team. The Kiwis will be hoping to put up a better performance next time around as they would not want to lose this series.
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Three half centuries from the top order gave India a slender advantage in the first test match against New Zealand in Hamilton. The Indians began the day 250 runs behind the Kiwi total and soon lost Sehwag to a brilliant fielding from Franklin. Sehwag and Ghambir had a slight misunderstanding which left the former way short of his crease. Rahul Dravid joined Ghambir in the middle with the score on 37/1 and forged a good partnership to take India to 108/1 at lunch.
After lunch the Dravid-Ghambir combination took India to 142 when Gautam Ghambir was caught behind of Martin for 72. It was a good innings from Ghambir but he played one shot too many. Sachin Tendulkar joined Dravid with the score on 142/2 and took India to 177 when Dravid was bowled of a beauty from Ian O’ Brian for 66 leaving the visitors 177/3. Laxman and Sachin took India to tea.
After tea India lost Laxman for 30 with the score on 238. Laxman was scratchy throughout his knock of 30 and was dropped once of a difficult chance in the boundary by Ian O’ Brian. Yuvraj and Sachin took India to stumps with the visitors just 1 run behind the New Zealand total. Sachin accelerated at the end of the day when the new ball was taken to remain 70 not out with his 42nd hundred in sight. He is currently joined by Yuvraj who is unbeaten on 8 and would like to push the lead beyond hundred tomorrow.
The first session again will be really important and the Indians would like to keeps wickets in hand. The pitch has something for the seam bowlers and was constantly encouraging them throughout the day. Daniel Vettori will be happy with the bowler’s performance as they were able to keep the Indians to just 249 runs for the day. The best bowler for the hosts was Chris Martin who finished with 2 wickets and Ian O’ Brian who took the wicket of a set Rahul Dravid. Kyle Mills was disappointing and Vettori was not effective. Ryder bowled a few overs but was not that threatening.
Day 3 will determine which team has the upper hand as the game is slightly in India’s favor. Couple of wickets in the first session will give the hosts a chance to get back into the game. It will be interesting to see the approach of the Indians tomorrow as they were really subdued on day 2.
Last night was the elimination night and Sudha Ragunathan was the chief guest. The contestants were supposed to sing a classical song which hasn’t featured in a film. Even though there were four singers to perform I always felt that it was between Prasanna and Vijay as they were the least trained members in the pack.
The night began with Ranjani who sang “Paalvadiyum Mugam” song and impressed the chief guest and the judges who praised her for her professional performance. Sudha Ragunathan said that Ranjani had a great voice and sang very well. Srinivas said that it was again a clinically effeciant performance from Ranjani. Sujatha and Unni pointed out some small things here and there but overall they liked her performance.
The second contestant of the night was Ajeesh. His was a good performance (I forgot the song though). Sudha Ragunathan said that Ajeesh has to work on his modulations a little bit as listening to him becomes a little bit boring after a while. She said that he has a great gift and is a natural but has to develop his talent a little bit. The judges felt the same and they said that it was a commendable effort from Ajeesh.
The next performance was from Prasanna. I was eagerly waiting for his performance as this was an out and out classical round. Prasanna though stunned everyone and gave a fantastic performance. Sudha Ragunathan praised him very much and said he had a great future. Prasanna was in tears when Sudha Ragunathan said those words. His performance was emotional and even moved the judges and the chief guest. All the judges praised him very much and said that he has to take some sort of music training as he is an excellent talent and has the right voice for play back singing.
The final performer of the night was Vijay and he sang a bajan. He said later that since he was currently getting trained in Hindustani music he decided to sing the same. The performance was really good and the chief guest praised his voice and she said that she liked his performance very much. The judges also felt the same and Srinivas told that Vijay needs more concentration as he feels that he is a good musician.
All the performances were complete and when finally the time for elimination came they decided to let Ranjani back with the other spot selected contestants as they felt that she gave good performances. So it was between Prasanna, Ajeesh and Vijay and the judges decided to not eliminate anyone this round as they felt that none of them performed badly enough to get eliminated. Sudha Ragunathan said that they can take the pointers from this show and implement it later in the show. So no eliminations and 7 people carry over to the next round. We have to wait till the next round to see who will get the next axe from the judges.
Three half centuries from the top order gave India a slender advantage in the first test match against New Zealand in Hamilton. The Indians began the day 250 runs behind the Kiwi total and soon lost Sehwag to a brilliant fielding from Franklin. Sehwag and Ghambir had a slight misunderstanding which left the former way short of his crease. Rahul Dravid joined Ghambir in the middle with the score on 37/1 and forged a good partnership to take India to 108/1 at lunch.
After lunch the Dravid-Ghambir combination took India to 142 when Gautam Ghambir was caught behind of Martin for 72. It was a good innings from Ghambir but he played one shot too many. Sachin Tendulkar joined Dravid with the score on 142/2 and took India to 177 when Dravid was bowled of a beauty from Ian O’ Brian for 66 leaving the visitors 177/3. Laxman and Sachin took India to tea.
After tea India lost Laxman for 30 with the score on 238. Laxman was scratchy throughout his knock of 30 and was dropped once of a difficult chance in the boundary by Ian O’ Brian. Yuvraj and Sachin took India to stumps with the visitors just 1 run behind the New Zealand total. Sachin accelerated at the end of the day when the new ball was taken to remain 70 not out with his 42nd hundred in sight. He is currently joined by Yuvraj who is unbeaten on 8 and would like to push the lead beyond hundred tomorrow.
The first session again will be really important and the Indians would like to keeps wickets in hand. The pitch has something for the seam bowlers and was constantly encouraging them throughout the day. Daniel Vettori will be happy with the bowler’s performance as they were able to keep the Indians to just 249 runs for the day. The best bowler for the hosts was Chris Martin who finished with 2 wickets and Ian O’ Brian who took the wicket of a set Rahul Dravid. Kyle Mills was disappointing and Vettori was not effective. Ryder bowled a few overs but was not that threatening.
Day 3 will determine which team has the upper hand as the game is slightly in India’s favor. Couple of wickets in the first session will give the hosts a chance to get back into the game. It will be interesting to see the approach of the Indians tomorrow as they were really subdued on day 2.
Last night was the elimination night and Sudha Ragunathan was the chief guest. The contestants were supposed to sing a classical song which hasn’t featured in a film. Even though there were four singers to perform I always felt that it was between Prasanna and Vijay as they were the least trained members in the pack.
The night began with Ranjani who sang “Paalvadiyum Mugam” song and impressed the chief guest and the judges who praised her for her professional performance. Sudha Ragunathan said that Ranjani had a great voice and sang very well. Srinivas said that it was again a clinically effeciant performance from Ranjani. Sujatha and Unni pointed out some small things here and there but overall they liked her performance.
The second contestant of the night was Ajeesh. His was a good performance (I forgot the song though). Sudha Ragunathan said that Ajeesh has to work on his modulations a little bit as listening to him becomes a little bit boring after a while. She said that he has a great gift and is a natural but has to develop his talent a little bit. The judges felt the same and they said that it was a commendable effort from Ajeesh.
The next performance was from Prasanna. I was eagerly waiting for his performance as this was an out and out classical round. Prasanna though stunned everyone and gave a fantastic performance. Sudha Ragunathan praised him very much and said he had a great future. Prasanna was in tears when Sudha Ragunathan said those words. His performance was emotional and even moved the judges and the chief guest. All the judges praised him very much and said that he has to take some sort of music training as he is an excellent talent and has the right voice for play back singing.
The final performer of the night was Vijay and he sang a bajan. He said later that since he was currently getting trained in Hindustani music he decided to sing the same. The performance was really good and the chief guest praised his voice and she said that she liked his performance very much. The judges also felt the same and Srinivas told that Vijay needs more concentration as he feels that he is a good musician.
All the performances were complete and when finally the time for elimination came they decided to let Ranjani back with the other spot selected contestants as they felt that she gave good performances. So it was between Prasanna, Ajeesh and Vijay and the judges decided to not eliminate anyone this round as they felt that none of them performed badly enough to get eliminated. Sudha Ragunathan said that they can take the pointers from this show and implement it later in the show. So no eliminations and 7 people carry over to the next round. We have to wait till the next round to see who will get the next axe from the judges.
The classical round day 2 started with 4 singers yet to perform and I was mostly interested in seeing Prasanna perform. Since Prasanna and Vijay were only two people in the group who are not currently learning music.
The first singer of the evening was Ajeesh and he began by singing “Aadal Kalaiye” from Shri Raghavendra and did a great job. He sounded very well and his classical training came to the fore during his performance. The judges were impressed and even though they found few mistakes here and there over all they all liked it. Ajeesh unfortunately did not get spot selected.
The second singer of the night was Renu and she sang “Kanda Naal Mudhalai” song from Kanda Naal Mudhal movie and did a great job. The judges liked her performance very much and said that it was clean singing from Renu. Unni though gave her few variations in the end to sing which she wasn’t able to do so. But as the judges said that wouldn’t affect their judgment and spot selected her. Renu I guess has been little bit lucky with the selections as there have been better performances. I though Ajeesh did a very good job on a tough song and was unlucky. Anyways that’s my opinion.
The next contestant was Raghini and she sang a completely classical based song “Ellam Inbamayam” and gave a fantastic performance. The judges were little bit in shock I guess after her performance. Srinivas couldn’t believe that he has to spot select Raghini and gave her some light variations of the Raaga that her song was based on just to test her but she came out trumps. Raghini was spot selected and rightly so.
The final contestant of the day was Prasanna and Classical round for sure is not his strength. He sang a song from Kadhal Oviyam (forgot the song, if someone remembers please let me know) and gave an honest performance. The judges felt that his performance had the energy and force required for the song but he fell short in the classical part. He had lots of pitching problems and also struggled rendering the swaras. The Judges requested him to start learning music as they felt that he is an extremely talented singer. As expected earlier Prasanna did not get spot selected in the classical round.
Well so it is Prasanna, Ajeesh, Vijay and Ranjani who will be performing on day 3 of the classical round. They have to sing a classical song not featured in movies. I guess it will be between Vijay and Prasanna tonight. I guess one of them will not make it to the next round. Prasanna clearly struggled in the classical round and I will be surprised if it will be any different today. Only past performances might help him to get through if it comes down to that. Lets see tonight how it unfolds in non-filmy classical round.
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The first test between India and New Zealand got underway in Hamilton yesterday and thankfully there was no rain delay. The Indian captain won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first. The pitch was supposed to help the seam bowler at least in the first session of play. The Indian bowlers did not disappoint the captain as the Black Caps were in tatters by lunch losing 6 wickets for 61 runs.
Zaheer had 2, Ishant 3 and Munaf 1. It was a perfect session for the visitors and it seemed like they will bowl out New Zealand for a 100 or 150. The revival for the Kiwis started after lunch when Daniel Vettori and Jesse Ryder joined hands. Vettori and Ryder had some luck along the way but they batted brilliantly to guide the home team towards respectability.
The next session until tea was fantastic for the black caps as they did not lose any wickets and the Ryder, Vettori combination still undisturbed. The final session continued in the same vein as Vettori and Ryder made the Indian bowlers struggle as the wicket eased up for batting. Vettori scored a brilliant hundred and looked like taking the game away from the Indians when Munaf finally struck. Vettori was caught of the bowling of Munaf for 118.
It was a brilliant innings from the captain leading from the front. Munaf accounted for Mills the very next ball with a brilliant Yorker for zero leaving the home team 8 down. Ryder still batting on 70 needed some one to stay with him Ian O’ Brian did that for a while. Ryder reached his maiden test hundred for New Zealand is having a dream run in this series. He already made his first one-day hundred this series earlier.
He looks like a brilliant prospect for New Zealand but would do well to lose some weight. The New Zealand innings though finally came to an end on 279 with Harbajan and Ishant getting one wicket each in the end. The best bowlers for India were Ishant with 4 wickets and Munaf with 3. The Indian openers had to negotiate 7 overs which they did without losing any wickets as they finished on 29/0.
The first session on Day 2 will be really important for the Indians as there might be some help for the pacers. The home team though would want to get rid of Sehwag fast as a session or two from him might swing the game decisively in India’s favor. The first day was brilliant and hopefully the second day will also follow suit in terms of action in the middle and also the weather. Let’s hope for another cracking days play.
girisopinion
My Thoughts 