Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
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Doug Bollinger takes 5 to hand India a series defeat
India lost yet another bilateral series to Australia yesterday after an inept batting display by the home side. The Indian batting display in this series would be a great cause for concern in the Indian camp. The Australian team though has done a wonderful job with a depleted side, missing almost 7-8 regular players in the squad. The Indian captain would be very disappointed with result as after the first 3 games it seemed as though the home team were the frontrunners.
The Indian problems though are 3 fold, batting, fielding and bowling. Australia were better in the above three disciplines. This has been the problem with the Indian team over the past few months. When the batting clicks, they are a very hard team to beat as they usually rake up a huge total but if it fails the bowlers are not good enough to win those games. The fielding has been a problem too, lots of drop catches and misfield punctuates Indian efforts in the field these days.
When the team was doing well all these faults were overlooked as winning was more important at that time but recently we have seen that this team is far from becoming the number one team in the world. India has to seriously look into their ODI combination as we are just over a year away from the WC. The bowling looks thin and the batting inconsistent and this in addition to poor fielding makes India’s chances in the 2011 WC very slim.
A 4-2 series loss against a severely depleted Aussie team will not go well with the fans and the management alike but Dhoni and Kirsten would be relieved that the Sri Lankan series starts right away.
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MPL (Mumbai Premier League) is the latest addition to the ever growing T20 leagues in India. This one is being launched by the Mumbai cricket association (MCA) to cash in on the popularity of the T20 format and the success of IPL. The worst part is that this league is supposed to follow the IPL next year and Sachin Tendulkar is expected to play in this league. Since this league is organized by the MCA even Rohit and Zaheer would be expected to play in the league as well.
We already have IPL, CLT20 and a corporate T20 league which hogs our calendar and most of the Indian national cricketers play in them. We all know what excessive cricket can do to a player … Ishant is a fine example. We are just a year and a half away from the 2011 WC and India does not even have a settled pool of players decided yet.
If every other state decides to have such a league then the players would not have time to play for the country. India is trying to become the best side in the world and unfortunately the biggest hindrance for that is coming from the home board. It seems like BCCI does not care how the team performs; instead they are more worried about the players being available for the IPL.
It seems very funny when the players complain about overdose of cricket as they are the ones signing up to play in the various leagues around the world. Including the Australian T20 league, which is already in place, there are going to be at least three leagues every year where international players will be participating apart from the International games which absolutely doesn’t leave them with any rest.
If the Indian team aspires to be the best in the world, the players have to stop appearing in every league they are invited to play in. The players have to pick and choose the leagues they would be representing so that they are fit and available when the National team requires them. MCA has set yet another bad precedent in India and I hope that the rest of the state boards don’t follow suit.
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Recently there have been calls in the media to scrap the 50 over format to accommodate the rising number of T20’s played around the world. There have been various theories like reducing the number of overs to 40, playing ODI in a two inning format etc. ODI cricket has been around for a long time now and definitely needs an overhaul but I guess it still has a place in the hearts of a cricket lover.
ECB recently scrapped their domestic 50 over tournament and replaced the same with a 40 over version. We did see in the media recently where the ECB has suggested the same to the ICC. We cannot fault the ECB for doing so as their National team has been pretty poor in the 50 over version. I hope that the ICC dont follow that route.
One thing I have to agree is that there is too much of ODI cricket played these days adding up to the numerous T20 leagues going around. This is where ICC needs to step up and do something about the ever growing T20 leagues. Having IPLT20 and CLT20 in the same year is ridiculous. Now since Australia is starting their own T20 league which might leave players no time to play International cricket, it’s the right time for ICC to step in. They should bring some sort of a regulation which would reduce the number of ODI’s and T20’s played in a year to sustain interest among the fans. I am not sure why the Test championship is not taking wings as it is an interesting concept. It will for sure induct lots of interest among the viewers for the oldest format of the game.
The 50 over format provides a great variation to the fans from the bang bash T20 format. The teams are allowed to strategize, plan and execute over a 50 over format. Even though IPL and CLT20 have become so successful in India, people still love the ODI’s. ODI matches in India still play to packed houses. The major problem though which needs to be addressed immediately is the player burnout.
Too many ODI’s are played these days and most of them are meaningless. A 7 match ODI series is a tad too long I feel. I guess a bilateral ODI series should be limited to no more than 5 games. The champions Trophy and ODI world cup need to be the premier multinational events. Limit the amount of other tri series which are played around the world other than the above two major events.
ICC also has to work towards reducing the number of T20 leagues which are going around these days. The ODI cricket format itself needs an overhaul to make it more interesting and reducing the number of overs isn’t the way to go. The 2 innings format is something which the ICC can look into. They have tried couple of innovations in the past which haven’t worked like the “Super-sub”. More thought needs to be put in towards that line.
ODI cricket has a rich history and has been around for a long time. ODI World Cup still remains a special event for every cricketer around the world. Test cricket as every International player would agree is the pinnacle of cricket and will remain for a long time to come. The format which needs preservation is the ODI. Players still prefer this format over T20 any day. The advent of T20 has cast some doubts over the future of this format but with some innovations, the 50 over format can hang on. Reduce the number of games played around at the moment and make some changes to the existing format and we might have a winning formula. The short and sweet Champions Trophy breathed some life into ODI’s and we hope that the ICC can learn something from this. I am a fan of 50 over format and would not want to see it die.
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Somdev Devverman rallied to score a brilliant victory over Pavol Cervenak and storm into the quarter-finals of the $125,000 ATP Challenger event in Seoul, Korea, on Wednesday.
However, Prakash Amritraj’s [ Images ] campaign ended with a loss in the second round.
Fourth-seeded Somdev came back from a set down to beat the Slovak 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the hardcourt event.
Prakash, however, went down by a tame 1-6, 3-6 margin against second seed and Davis Cupper Yen-Hsun Lu.
Somdev, who is out of the doubles event after losing in the first round, next faces Czech Republic’s Dusan Lojda.
Prakash’s challenge is over in doubles event as well, after he and partner Marin ko Matosevic lost the opening round 4-6, 4-6 against the top seeded Thai pair of Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana.
Another Indian who tasted defeat was Purav Raja, who along with Australian partner Sadik Kadir, lost his first round match 7-5, 2-6, 8-10 to the Japanese pair of Hiroki Kondo and GO Soeda.
Source: Rediff.com
In search of an all rounder
Posted on: October 26, 2009
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Bajji walks back after playing a blinder against the Aussies in the first ODI in Vadodara
In a recent interview Bajji (Harbhajan Singh) told the media that his captain Dhoni had told him to concentrate on batting a bit more. This shows Dhoni’s desperation for a good all rounder in the team. Bajji for his part has done a brilliant job as he has been contributing consistently in Tests and scored 4 fifties last year. But is this the right path for the premier spinner in the Indian team? Bajji’s primary role in the team should be to take wickets and help his side to win more games and anything other than that should be a bonus.
Since Kapil retired from all forms of cricket in 94/95 the Indian team has been in search of an able all rounder to replace the legend but has been largely unsuccessful in doing so. India tried out various options in the mid and late nineties but none of them were able to fill the big void Kapil had left in the squad. In the last 15 years the only player who came close to filling that spot was Irfan Pathan. Irfan was a brilliant bowler when he made his debut in 2004 and was more than useful with the bat.
But unfortunately things went downhill for Irfan after his first year in International cricket. During “Guru” Greg’s tenure as Indian coach things changed for Irfan as he was used more as a batsman in the ODI squad. He bowling declined due to that switch and Irfan now is no more a regular fixture in the Indian team. Dhoni and Kirsten need to be careful as they wouldn’t want Bajji to follow that route.
India needs to unearth a bowling all rounder from the domestic scene to fill the all rounder spot. Irfan himself is an option. In the recent ODI against the Aussies, Bajji and Praveen almost pulled off an improbable victory. Can Praveen Kumar be a candidate for the all rounder spot? You never know. The Indian think tank need to make sure that they don’t put too much pressure on the Indian bowlers to perform with the bat, since that may affect their bowling. Yes the bowlers need to contribute with the bat but should be a bonus and not their primary role.
Australia during their prime played with some bits and pieces all rounders but was still able to win due to a good bowling attack. India needs to keep that in mind, even though an all rounder is an important cog in the wheel of a successful team, specialists are essential too. As the Indian team continues to search for an all rounder, the Bajji’s and Praveen’s can concentrate on what they do best that is to win games with their bowling and their batting contributions should just be a bonus.
India Vs Australia preview
Posted on: October 23, 2009
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Pic Courtesy Cricinfo: Dhoni plays some football in the training session in Mumbai.
The much awaited battle between the top two sides in the limited form of the game is all set to begin tomorrow when the Indians take on the Aussies for a 7 match series in Vadodara. The lead up to the series for the teams has been a stark contrast. Australia has been in brilliant form thrashing England 6-1 in a bilateral series and successfully defending the Champions Trophy. India though on the other hand is coming into the series after a disappointing exit from the Champions Trophy.
The BCCI took some very harsh decisions aftermath of the exit by sacking the fielding and the bowling coach. Dhoni would have realized how thankless captaincy could be as in the matter of weeks he turned from hero to zero. The Indian team though would be buoyed by the return of Yuvraj and Sehwag at the top of the order. So the batting for the home team sports a balanced look as opposed to the bowling which totally relies of how Bajji would perform.
Ishant Sharma has been given a lifeline as he has been included in the squad in spite of some mediocre performances. No such luck for Yusuf Pathan though as he has been dropped from the squad after some indifferent performances in the Compaq cup and CT. So Ishant might play the first game with Nehra and Praveen (or Tyagi) being the others partnering him in Vadodara.
Australia though has no such worries as they have a fit and firing Brett Lee along with one of the fastest bowlers in the world Dirk Nannes. The only aspect of the Aussie bowling which might be exposed is their spin department. Even though Nathan Hauritz has been doing a good job for them in the past few months, he might be targeted by the Indian batsmen.
Batting though for the Aussies seems in good shape with Watson and Paine at the top with Ponting and the rest to follow. Ricky Ponting himself has been in brilliant form for the Aussies. On the flat batting tracks in India the Aussies will not be too worried about their batsmen struggling against the spinners.
Even though the Indian top order seems very strong they will be still wary of the lack of competitive matches for Yuvraj and Sehwag. Raina and Dhoni have not been in good touch. Ghambir has been scratchy in his last couple of innings in the CLT20. So there are concerns a plenty for the Indian think tank.
The teams are ranked 1 and 2 in the ICC ODI rankings and there is plenty to play for in that aspect. If India wins the series by a considerable margin then they might just pip the Aussies for the top spot. So all in all this will be an interesting series and it will be interesting to see the team combinations for the first game by both the parties.
This is an important series for the Indian captain as he would have found out recently that the media and the fans in the subcontinent have a pretty short term memory. I am sure that this will be a close series and I hope that India ends up on the right side of the results. I am going for a 4-3 win to India. Go India!!
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Sudeep Tyagi is the only new face in the Indian squad for the Australian series (Pic: courtesy Cricinfo)
The Indian team for the upcoming Australian series was announced last week and the only new face in the squad was Sudeep Tyagi. Tyagi is the latest addition to the search for a good young Indian fast bowler. Tyagi had a great beginning to his domestic career but could not repeat the same in his second year of the championship. His success in the shorter format of the game has resulted in his selection in the Indian ODI team.
Tyagi is not an out and out quick bowler and fortunately he does not claim to be one. He bowls around 135-140 Km/hr and swings the ball both ways. He had an impressive showing in the Emerging Players tournament in Australia and also in the recently concluded Challenger Series in India. India will be playing the Aussies later this month in a 7 match ODI series where I am sure the selectors would want to test him out. Only time will tell if he breaks the familiar pattern of the current and past Indian seamers have been following.
Since 2000 the Indian team has had promising entrants in the pace bowling department like Zaheer, Nehra, RP Singh, Irfan, Sreesanth, Munaf, Ishant, Balaji, VRV Singh etc. If you take the careers of all the above mentioned bowlers one thing is common among them which is lack of consistency. All the above mentioned bowlers had a great beginning and an impressive first year in the International scene but could not sustain the same in the coming years. Bowlers starting to bowl at 135-140 to start with, in their second year average around 130 or lower. They lose their swing and pace and look pretty mediocre.
Ishant who had an impressive Australian tour earlier last year bowling consistently over 140 K is now looking ordinary averaging less than 130 K in speed and bowling freebees. What is causing such a drop in performance is something to be investigated. The BCCI have now taken the easy way out by sacking the bowling coach, which I don’t think is a solution to this conundrum.
Lots of theories have been floating around in the media to explain this situation like, too much cricket, too much money etc and I feel that it’s a bit of both. The adulation and recognition the players receive is tremendous and I feel that it becomes too much for them to handle. Players like Zaheer, Nehra and Munaf had to be dropped from the team for them to come back as better bowlers. The treatment seems to work, which means that the bowlers need a kick on their back side once in a while.
The other aspect is too much cricket which cannot be ignored either. Tests, ODI, and T20 which includes two BCCI tournaments now every year cannot be good for the bowlers. The big money and fan following so soon in their careers can only lead to drop in performance of these youngsters who are barely 20 when they make the side. Either the BCCI should follow the Aussie path by bringing in the players who have considerable domestic experience or should have performance based points system which will mean that their IPL place or the Indian team contract will be affected.
Now that another youngster is making his debut we have to be careful the way he is treated. We don’t want to hype him too much after couple of good performances. My suggestion would be that once the player makes his debut in the International arena, he should be made to concentrate on the National side rather than playing in the IPL or any other meaningless tournaments. Tyagi needs to understand that he has the best chance now to cement his position in the squad and not follow the path of his seniors.
In a recent interview he mentioned that he wants to perform like Zaheer Khan and I hope he was talking about the performances of Zaheer in the last two years only. Hopefully we can see a break in the trend of the last few years in the pace bowling department. Once Zaheer comes back we can have a good pool of bowlers which can augur well for the future of Indian cricket. I sincerely hope that BCCI does something about the bowling problem rather than adapting the drop and pick option.
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The team for the upcoming Australian series was announced earlier today and there were few surprises in the squad. This team was only for the first two games of the series. The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Ravindra Jadeja in the squad. After his performances in the World T20 I thought that it will take a long time for him to make a comeback but apparently I was wrong. The selectors named him in the 15 for the first two games based on his performance in the Irani trophy.
Sehwag and Yuvi have made it back to the team after missing out due to injuries in the champions Trophy as expected. Munaf also receives a call back after his exploits in the Irani trophy and the challenger Trophy where he was the highest wicket taker. Sudeep Tyagi gets a call which I thought was always on the cards as he has been consistently performing well in the domestic arena. His performance in the challenger Trophy and “Emerging players” trophy has catapulted him to the National squad fairly early.
The rest of the team is on the expected lines as Kohli and Mishra have been retained in the squad after some good showings in the CT. Ashish Nehra will be leading the pace bowling department and Bajji will be taking care of the spin. The other big surprise in the squad is the inclusion of Ishant Sharma, in spite of his mediocre performances in ODI cricket for the past year or so. His performances in the challenger trophy were also not up to the mark as he was constantly out bowled by Tyagi and Munaf. This shows the confidence the management has on the youngster and I hope he doesn’t disappoint.
Rahul Dravid unfortunately does not enjoy such confidence from the selectors who have dropped him from the squad. Rahul made a comeback to the side after 2 years since the selectors thought that the youngsters were suspect against the bouncing ball in SA but has been discarded for the home series against the Australians. I am actually really disappointed with the way the great man has been treated as he has done whatever was asked of him throughout his career. He has batted in all positions, kept wickets to maintain the balance in the squad without complaining but still continues to be treated badly by the selectors.
Yusuf Pathan has been shown the door but this was expected after his performances in SL and CT. Irfan Pathan could not be considered as he is currently injured. Ravichandran Aswin has not been considered for the all rounders spot and none of the good performers from the challenger’s trophy have got a look in.
All in all the team looks solid with the inclusion of Yuvi and Sehwag. It will be interesting to see where Sachin bats, since Sehwag is back in the squad now. I am assuming that Ghambir will drop down the order to accommodate Sehwag at the top with Sachin. The bowling selection will also be interesting as India don’t have a good all rounder in the team. I am not sure if they would want to go with two spinners or 3 pacers as most of the wickets for this series will be batsmen friendly. When looking at the squad selected for the series, Nehra and Bajji seem to be the only sure starters in the lineup.
All in all even though there have been few surprises, the squad looks solid and has capabilities to put it past the Aussies. The series begins in 10 days time and I hope that we put up a good show. I am going for a 4-3 win for the home team. Go India!!
Squad from the first two ODI’s against the Aussies:
Squad: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma.
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India Red captain badrinath with the challenger Trophy
The challenger trophy featuring three teams comprising of the best talents from the Indian domestic scene ended in Nagpur over the weekend. India Red beat India Blue to claim the Challenger Trophy. The challenger trophy, once the primary competition to showcase the talent of best players from the Indian domestic scene in the limited overs version was totally overshadowed by the CLT20. I am not even sure if any selectors or the viewers expressed any interest on this year’s tournament.
I don’t understand the logic of having both the competitions at the same time when the BCCI knows that India is due to play Australia in an ODI series. As MS Dhoni himself does not consider T20 as a yardstick for ODI selections, the BCCI could have had the probable Indian players to participate in the Challenger series instead of the CLT20. It would have been better if Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and others had played in the challengers rather than the bang bash CLT20.
Since challengers Trophy is a short tournament, the players could have been back for the second round if their respective IPL teams had qualified for the same. Anyways that aside, the tournament itself was interesting. There were lots of youngsters in view and few of them impressed with their performances. India Red was amazingly the strongest of the three teams this year as traditionally India blue used to be the better side comprising of the current Indian players. But unfortunately the Indian seniors were either injured or were playing in the CLT20.
Batting was not that easy in the challenger trophy except for one game in which the India blue scored 350. The batting in the tournament threw some new names like Abhinav Mukund and some known names like Shikar Dhawan, M Vijay, Badrinath, Aniruddha S etc. It was great to see players like M Vijay and Shikar Dhawan playing well as they are considered to be the future of Indian batting. M Vijay especially showed that he can bat in the shorter format of the game too. Tamil Nadu all rounder Ravichandran Aswin also impressed with his bowling in the competition. He was very economical in all the games and also picked some crucial wickets but did not receive too many chances to display his batting capabilities.
He could be an option for the Indians in the upcoming series against the Aussies. It was baffling to see that Pujara never got a game in spite of him being in fray for the selection for the past year or so. He seems to be scoring heavily in the domestic cricket but doesn’t seem to be in the mind of the selectors. The bowling was the strong point for India Red with Munaf and Tyagi being the chief contributors. Munaf was excellent in the series along with Tyagi but Ishant was once again disappointing. Ishant picked up wickets but was very expensive throughout the series. I think that he needs a break from cricket to get back his pace and accuracy. Getting bashed around in every single game cannot do any good for his confidence. Munaf has been bowling pretty well in the recent times and Tyagi even though started badly finished very well in the last couple of games.
It was a good tournament and threw some interesting names for the selectors to look at when they sit down for team selection on the 15th of this month. I am hoping to see some new names in the squad for the upcoming series against the Aussies.15 or 16 selected for the first few games but we have to wait and see.
CLT20 – IPL Teams Review
Posted on: October 9, 2009
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Adam Gilchrist and Anil Kumble in a press conference ahead of CL T20
The inaugural CL T20 began yesterday with Bangalore Royal Challengers taking on the Cape Cobras from South Africa. CL T20 has been touted as the first global domestic league and has received lots of press. The Challenger trophy event which is being played simultaneously has almost gone unnoticed. The Challenger trophy for me is more the measure of a young talent than the Bang Bash CL T20. Anyways keeping that aside lets analyze the IPL teams participating in this event and how they stack against the rest.
Bangalore Royal Challengers:
Touted as the Test X1 as opposed to a T20 team in the first edition of IPL, they surprised one and all by entering the finals in the second edition. Yesterday they played the Cape Cobras and put up a decent show. BLR scored 180 batting first only to be defeated by a great innings from Jean-Paul Duminy who remained unbeaten on 99. Bangalore team is a mix of youth and experience but very light on bowling. Yeah they have Kumble but he doesn’t bowl often these days and if they don’t choose Steyn then their bowling is pretty thin. Kallis has not had a great time with the ball in T20 and Praveen Kumar does not have the pace to trouble the batsmen in the final overs. It seems like the bowling depends too much on Steyn and Kumble. Batting wise they have some exciting talent. They have Ross Taylor, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey (Scored the first hundred by an Indian in T20) and then experience with Rahul Dravid, Kallis, Uthappa and Boucher. But when you compare BRC with the rest of the teams in the competition, it will be a surprise if they make it to the final stages.
Deccan Chargers:
They are the winners of the IPL 2 and have a balanced lineup. The team has fire power in batting as well as in bowling. The bowling has pace with Edwards and batting has Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds. They will do okay in the competition if they bat well. RP Singh has been in a really bad form which means that they have to play Vaas in his place. The spin department will be taken by Pragyan Ojha who has been great whenever he played for the country. But one thing noticed in the IPL 2 was that their bowling lacks consistency and they rely too much on Gilchrist to get them off to a flier.
They will miss Hershelle Gibbs in CLT20, who was one of the main contributors in the IPL 2 for DC. Even though they have some good youngsters in the middle order, their chances squarely rest on how Adam Gilchrist plays. That probably might be a big disadvantage for the team. Rohit Sharma off course will have to play a major role along with Venugopala Rao. I guess they have the fire power to make it to the semis, more so than BRC.
Delhi Daredevils:
Probably the best team among the three IPL entrants in the competition. Explosive batting and a good bowling lineup makes DD one of the favorites where ever they play. Batting comprises of Sehwag, Dilshan, Ghambir, Devilliers and also Dinesh Karthik. The batting is solid and the bowling also is pretty solid with Nannes, Nehra, McGrath (If he plays), and Mishra. So that sums up the squad pretty much. The batting has quality and aggression and bowling has consistency and pace. Sehwag is making a return to competitive cricket after a break and would want to get back to his groove before the all important series against the Aussies. Ghambir newly named as the captain of the Daredevils has been in fantastic form. Dilshan has been explosive over the past year and has played some blinders for SL in that period.
The bowling also has pace with Nannes, consistency with McGrath and Nehra and spin will be in good hands with Mishra. All in all DD have the best chance of reaching the finals of the three IPL entrants in this competition. They play Victoria later today and I hope that they start their campaign on a winning note.
That pretty much ends my analysis of the three IPL teams in the competition. I would have personally preferred youngsters like Kohli playing in the challengers rather than in the CLT20 but thats my opinion. I hope the youngsters in the teams take this as an experiance and pick the brains of the stalwarts they are privileged to share the dressing room with. Dhoni pretty much summed up the T20 leagues after India’s CT exit when he said “T20 should not be the yardstick for the team selection”. So I dont think this is going to help any youngster to improve their skills but can be used as a experiance to play against the best in the world.
girisopinion
My Thoughts 