Posts Tagged ‘Ghambir’
Dead rubber blues
Posted on: March 16, 2009
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India lost yet another dead rubber and this time it was against the Black Caps. The Indian batting continued in the same merry way as the other games where the pitches were more suited to the batters. The pitch at Auckland had something for the seam bowlers and the Indian batsmen kept swinging and lost wickets at regular intervals to get bowled out for 149. The game was shortened by rain and India decided to bat first which actually surprised Daniel Vettori as he claimed that he would have bowled first if he had won the toss.
The Indian batting started aiming for 300 or something with Sehwag and Ghambir both trying to hit out, but were still able to provide a decent start. Once Ghambir departed Sehwag was joined by Raina who again continued the approach. After Raina departed playing an ugly swing across the line, Sehwag joined him pretty soon with another rash shot.
India was three down and the team needed a partnership which never happened. Jesse Ryder was brought into the attack and he took the wickets of Dhoni and Yuvraj which put the Indians completely out of the game. Rohit Sharma tried to get some respectability to the total but did not get too much help from the others in the top order.
It was a really bad performance by the Indians after dominating the series. The New Zealanders would have been happy to get the win as it would give them the much needed confidence ahead of the test series. This is the third time in last one year that India has lost the dead rubber after dominating the series till then.
The test series gets underway in Hamilton on the 18th and it will be interesting to see how the Indian batters go about their business. It will be a different team with Dravid and Laxman coming in for Raina and Rohit. I am sure that the approach will be much measured and calculated than the mindless swinging of the bat we saw in the last game. The test wickets for sure are going to have something in it for the bowlers and the Indians should respect the same. Hopefully it will be an Indian win which will make this series more memorable.
Dead rubber blues
Posted on: March 16, 2009
India lost yet another dead rubber and this time it was against the Black Caps. The Indian batting continued in the same merry way as the other games where the pitches were more suited to the batters. The pitch at Auckland had something for the seam bowlers and the Indian batsmen kept swinging and lost wickets at regular intervals to get bowled out for 149. The game was shortened by rain and India decided to bat first which actually surprised Daniel Vettori as he claimed that he would have bowled first if he had won the toss.
The Indian batting started aiming for 300 or something with Sehwag and Ghambir both trying to hit out, but were still able to provide a decent start. Once Ghambir departed Sehwag was joined by Raina who again continued the approach. After Raina departed playing an ugly swing across the line, Sehwag joined him pretty soon with another rash shot.
India was three down and the team needed a partnership which never happened. Jesse Ryder was brought into the attack and he took the wickets of Dhoni and Yuvraj which put the Indians completely out of the game. Rohit Sharma tried to get some respectability to the total but did not get too much help from the others in the top order.
It was a really bad performance by the Indians after dominating the series. The New Zealanders would have been happy to get the win as it would give them the much needed confidence ahead of the test series. This is the third time in last one year that India has lost the dead rubber after dominating the series till then.
The test series gets underway in Hamilton on the 18th and it will be interesting to see how the Indian batters go about their business. It will be a different team with Dravid and Laxman coming in for Raina and Rohit. I am sure that the approach will be much measured and calculated than the mindless swinging of the bat we saw in the last game. The test wickets for sure are going to have something in it for the bowlers and the Indians should respect the same. Hopefully it will be an Indian win which will make this series more memorable.
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It was a great performance by the Indian team to win the one day series in New Zealand for the first time. Yesterday’s match again was rain affected and the way Sehwag and Ghambir kept India way ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis (DL) calculation was absolutely brilliant. The Indian bowling though was patchy. The start was good but they did not keep up the tempo letting Mccullum and Ryder to get off to a flier. Yuvraj and Yusuf Pathan were brought into the attack and they were successful in putting the brakes on the Kiwi openers.
The Indian fielding again was not up to the mark. There were lots of misfields and missed chances along the way during the New Zealand innings. Brendon Mccullum was given two reprieves during his innings of 77 and Dhoni’s miss stumping was the worst of the two. India’s bowling at the death was also not that spectacular as they were carted around easily by Andrew Mcglashan and Grant Elliot. After the rain interrupted first innings New Zealand reached a competitive 270/5 in 47 overs which was bumped up to 281 for the Indians to chase by the DL. Ishant Sharma was rusty on his return to the side and was inconsistent. Even though he picked up two wickets he was really shabby with no balls and got hit around a little bit.
Hopefully he will get his act together before the important test series to start in a week’s time.
So India started their innings needing almost 6 an over which is kind of tough in a game with so many rain interruptions. Well it’s not something which troubled the Indian openers though as they took the kiwi bowlers to the cleaners. Nothing worked for the New Zealand captain last night as the Indians rattled along at over 7 runs per over. All the bowlers were treated with equal contempt by the Indian openers. Sehwag blasted his way to a brilliant one day hundred of just 60 deliveries which is an Indian record. It was a display of calculated hitting and it came of brilliantly for the Indian opener. Sehwag finished on 125 unbeaten when the rain interrupted play for one final time. The Indians were racing along in the pursuit of 220 of 36 overs as they were 201/0 in just 23.3 overs.
The Kiwis will be really disappointed in losing the series 3-0 as this is the first time they have lost to the Indians at home. Dhoni and his team though would be enjoying this moment as it adds yet another brilliant win to their resume. The Indians though would want to finish the series 4-0 and get as much confidence as possible for the test series. They would have been bolstered by the news of Rahul Dravid scoring a fantastic hundred in the New Zealand domestic game. All in all a great performance from the Indian team after losing the first two Twenty20 games. Hope they carry this confidence to the test series too.
India look to wrap up the series
Posted on: March 12, 2009
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The Indians have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series and would like to wrap up the series in Hamilton, the venue for the 4th ODI. New Zealand has already dropped Tim Southee and Ian Butler for the fourth game after their disastrous performance in the series till date. The hosts will be bolstered by the return of their captain Daniel Vettori who was absent in the third ODI to be with his wife for the birth of his first child.
The Indians though might be without Sachin Tendulkar for the fourth ODI and would probably replace Munaf Patel with Ishant Sharma (if fit) or with Irfan Pathan. Munaf has been really struggling in this series and completely lost the plot in the final overs of the Christchurch game. Munaf seems in a need of a break and probably will find it difficult to get into the test X1 too. Rohit Sharma might get into the squad in the absence of Sachin and Ghambir will move up the order to join Sehwag. The rest of the team will remain the same for the Indians in all probability.
Dhoni would not want any slip up and would want to get the series wrapped up here in Hamilton. If India manages to achieve that then it will complete a wonderful run in 50 over format for the Indians since they won the CB series in Australia. For the Kiwis though this is a do or die game and they would want to contain the Indian scoring to have a chance. The bowlers for the home team have been really wayward and except for the captain the rest of the line up seems to lack consistency.
The New Zealand coach said that they have plans for every Indian player but the bowlers haven’t been able to implement the same in the middle. That’s been the problem for Vettori and co; they haven’t been able to contain the Indian batsmen. The pitches are good and the grounds are small so it’s been hard for the kiwis to contain Indian line up. Vettori would be hoping for a change of fortune in Hamilton. He would be hoping that the Indian batters would miscue few more of their shots and they take their chances.
Hopefully it will be another cracking game and may the best team win.
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What a performance from the little master, 163 from 133 balls was a phenomenal effort. Considering that people were gunning for his throat in the One day format, this was a special performance. Sachin answered his critics through his willow rather than on papers. That’s something which separates this great player from the others. His humility and his ability to keep his feet firmly on the ground have made him the great player that he is.
Coming back to the game itself, it was a batting paradise at christchurch and it seemed at the end that no score was safe. India would be really happy that in the end they got enough to win the game. In the absence of Daniel Vettori, Mccullum won the toss and invited India to bat, a decision which he would have regretted. India started with Sehwag and Tendulkar. Sehwag played an atrocious stroke to get bowled for 3 which brought in Gautam Ghambir to join Sachin in the middle.
Sachin Tendulkar though launched a brilliant counterattack after Sehwag’s exit which kept the Kiwis on the back foot. When things were going smoothly for the visitors Ghambir decided to run the ball to third man only to guide it into the hands of Andrew Mcglashan to leave India 2 down. Yuvraj then walked in to join the little master and what followed in the next 10-15 overs was an absolute carnage and something which the Kiwis did not have answer to.
The ground was too small for Yuvraj as he dealt mostly in boundaries during his knock of 87. Sachin and Yuvraj just hammered the New Zealand bowlers to submission. When Yuvraj was finally out for 87 India were already past 200. It was an ideal platform for Dhoni and the rest of the batting order. Dhoni had a lucky reprieve when Andrew Mcglashan missed an easy stumping of the bowling of Patel. Dhoni and Sachin continued the hitting and by the time Sachin retired due to injury for 163 India were already past 330 with 5 overs to go.
Suresh Raina then joined the Indian captain in the middle and helped India to reach 392/4 in 50 overs. This was the highest ever ODI score in NZ and the second highest for India.
The Indian bowlers though did not find the short boundaries to their liking. The New Zealand opening combination of Jesse Ryder and Brendon Mccullum got off to a flier scoring at almost 8 runs/over. The fielders also did not help India’s cause as they grassed two simple chances offered by both the openers. The first wicket fell at last with the New Zealand score on 165 when Brendon Mccullum was run out by Raina/Dhoni combination.
New Zealand though lost their way after that wicket in spite of Ryder’s brilliant hundred to lose 6 wickets for 50 odd runs. India though were unable to get rid of a tail who lead by Kyle Mills launched a brilliant fight back which put enormous pressure on the Indians. The Indian bowlers did not handle the situation well and Munaf was terribly disappointing. Dhoni looked visibly upset at the way Munaf was going about his bowling. The umpire finally ended Munaf’s misery when he took him off for bowling two over the waist deliveries in the same over.
India finally bowled the hosts out for 334, 58 runs short of the target. Even though the final score line suggests a comfortable win for India, Dhoni will not be happy with the way his team bowled and fielded. The game could have been much shorter if the Indians had hung on to the catches offered by the openers earlier in the innings. India would like to iron out the flaws before the next game and would hope to wrap up the series 3-0.
Sehwag blasts the kiwi bowlers on his way to his match winning 125 no in the 4th ODI
It was a great performance by the Indian team to win the one day series in New Zealand for the first time. Yesterday’s match again was rain affected and the way Sehwag and Ghambir kept India way ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis (DL) calculation was absolutely brilliant. The Indian bowling though was patchy. The start was good but they did not keep up the tempo letting Mccullum and Ryder to get off to a flier. Yuvraj and Yusuf Pathan were brought into the attack and they were successful in putting the brakes on the Kiwi openers.
The Indian fielding again was not up to the mark. There were lots of misfields and missed chances along the way during the New Zealand innings. Brendon Mccullum was given two reprieves during his innings of 77 and Dhoni’s miss stumping was the worst of the two. India’s bowling at the death was also not that spectacular as they were carted around easily by Andrew Mcglashan and Grant Elliot. After the rain interrupted first innings New Zealand reached a competitive 270/5 in 47 overs which was bumped up to 281 for the Indians to chase by the DL. Ishant Sharma was rusty on his return to the side and was inconsistent. Even though he picked up two wickets he was really shabby with no balls and got hit around a little bit. Hopefully he will get his act together before the important test series to start in a week’s time.
So India started their innings needing almost 6 an over which is kind of tough in a game with so many rain interruptions. Well it’s not something which troubled the Indian openers though as they took the kiwi bowlers to the cleaners. Nothing worked for the New Zealand captain last night as the Indians rattled along at over 7 runs per over. All the bowlers were treated with equal contempt by the Indian openers. Sehwag blasted his way to a brilliant one day hundred of just 60 deliveries which is an Indian record. It was a display of calculated hitting and it came of brilliantly for the Indian opener. Sehwag finished on 125 unbeaten when the rain interrupted play for one final time. The Indians were racing along in the pursuit of 220 of 36 overs as they were 201/0 in just 23.3 overs.
The Kiwis will be really disappointed in losing the series 3-0 as this is the first time they have lost to the Indians at home. Dhoni and his team though would be enjoying this moment as it adds yet another brilliant win to their resume. The Indians though would want to finish the series 4-0 and get as much confidence as possible for the test series. They would have been bolstered by the news of Rahul Dravid scoring a fantastic hundred in the New Zealand domestic game. All in all a great performance from the Indian team after losing the first two Twenty20 games. Hope they carry this confidence to the test series too.
India look to wrap up the series
Posted on: March 10, 2009
The Indians have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series and would like to wrap up the series in Hamilton, the venue for the 4th ODI. New Zealand has already dropped Tim Southee and Ian Butler for the fourth game after their disastrous performance in the series till date. The hosts will be bolstered by the return of their captain Daniel Vettori who was absent in the third ODI to be with his wife for the birth of his first child.
The Indians though might be without Sachin Tendulkar for the fourth ODI and would probably replace Munaf Patel with Ishant Sharma (if fit) or with Irfan Pathan. Munaf has been really struggling in this series and completely lost the plot in the final overs of the Christchurch game. Munaf seems in a need of a break and probably will find it difficult to get into the test X1 too. Rohit Sharma might get into the squad in the absence of Sachin and Ghambir will move up the order to join Sehwag. The rest of the team will remain the same for the Indians in all probability.
Dhoni would not want any slip up and would want to get the series wrapped up here in Hamilton. If India manages to achieve that then it will complete a wonderful run in 50 over format for the Indians since they won the CB series in Australia. For the Kiwis though this is a do or die game and they would want to contain the Indian scoring to have a chance. The bowlers for the home team have been really wayward and except for the captain the rest of the line up seems to lack consistency.
The New Zealand coach said that they have plans for every Indian player but the bowlers haven’t been able to implement the same in the middle. That’s been the problem for Vettori and co; they haven’t been able to contain the Indian batsmen. The pitches are good and the grounds are small so it’s been hard for the kiwis to contain Indian line up. Vettori would be hoping for a change of fortune in Hamilton. He would be hoping that the Indian batters would miscue few more of their shots and they take their chances.
Hopefully it will be another cracking game and may the best team win.
What a performance from the little master, 163 from 133 balls was a phenomenal effort. Considering that people were gunning for his throat in the One day format, this was a special performance. Sachin answered his critics through his willow rather than on papers. That’s something which separates this great player from the others. His humility and his ability to keep his feet firmly on the ground have made him the great player that he is.
Coming back to the game itself, it was a batting paradise at christchurch and it seemed at the end that no score was safe. India would be really happy that in the end they got enough to win the game. In the absence of Daniel Vettori, Mccullum won the toss and invited India to bat, a decision which he would have regretted. India started with Sehwag and Tendulkar. Sehwag played an atrocious stroke to get bowled for 3 which brought in Gautam Ghambir to join Sachin in the middle.
Sachin Tendulkar though launched a brilliant counterattack after Sehwag’s exit which kept the Kiwis on the back foot. When things were going smoothly for the visitors Ghambir decided to run the ball to third man only to guide it into the hands of Andrew Mcglashan to leave India 2 down. Yuvraj then walked in to join the little master and what followed in the next 10-15 overs was an absolute carnage and something which the Kiwis did not have answer to.
The ground was too small for Yuvraj as he dealt mostly in boundaries during his knock of 87. Sachin and Yuvraj just hammered the New Zealand bowlers to submission. When Yuvraj was finally out for 87 India were already past 200. It was an ideal platform for Dhoni and the rest of the batting order. Dhoni had a lucky reprieve when Andrew Mcglashan missed an easy stumping of the bowling of Patel. Dhoni and Sachin continued the hitting and by the time Sachin retired due to injury for 163 India were already past 330 with 5 overs to go.
Suresh Raina then joined the Indian captain in the middle and helped India to reach 392/4 in 50 overs. This was the highest ever ODI score in NZ and the second highest for India.
The Indian bowlers though did not find the short boundaries to their liking. The New Zealand opening combination of Jesse Ryder and Brendon Mccullum got off to a flier scoring at almost 8 runs/over. The fielders also did not help India’s cause as they grassed two simple chances offered by both the openers. The first wicket fell at last with the New Zealand score on 165 when Brendon Mccullum was run out by Raina/Dhoni combination.
New Zealand though lost their way after that wicket in spite of Ryder’s brilliant hundred to lose 6 wickets for 50 odd runs. India though were unable to get rid of a tail who lead by Kyle Mills launched a brilliant fight back which put enormous pressure on the Indians. The Indian bowlers did not handle the situation well and Munaf was terribly disappointing. Dhoni looked visibly upset at the way Munaf was going about his bowling. The umpire finally ended Munaf’s misery when he took him off for bowling two over the waist deliveries in the same over.
India finally bowled the hosts out for 334, 58 runs short of the target. Even though the final score line suggests a comfortable win for India, Dhoni will not be happy with the way his team bowled and fielded. The game could have been much shorter if the Indians had hung on to the catches offered by the openers earlier in the innings. India would like to iron out the flaws before the next game and would hope to wrap up the series 3-0.
Rain frustrates the Indians
Posted on: March 7, 2009
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India were 188/4 in 28.4 overs when the rain stopped play for the final time in the second one day international in Wellington. There were three stoppages of play within the 28.4 overs bowled by the Kiwis. The game began as a 50 overs contest, reduced to 44 after the first break and then to 34 after the second before being called off.
The Indians were really well placed to set a difficult target to the Kiwis. The visitors were scoring at 6.55 runs/over when the rain halted the play with the captain Dhoni and Raina at the crease. The Indians once again started briskly with Sehwag and Sachin putting on 76 for the first wicket. Sehwag was out after making a whirlwind 52. Gautam Ghambir Joined Sachin at the crease.
Once Sehwag was out Sachin cut loose and India were motoring along at 7 runs/over when the rain halted the play for the first time. The score during the first interruption was 130/1 in 19 overs. The hosts pulled things back after the resumption with the wickets of Sachin for 61, Ghambir for 20 and yuvraj for 0. But the problem for the Kiwis was that the Indians were still scoring way over 6 runs/over.
It seems to be the strategy of the Indian think tank that they keep the run rate up all the time and one of the two batsmen at the crease always goes for it and the other forms the anchor. Since all the ODI games seem to get interrupted by rain the strategy seems worth the try and for now seems to be working for the Indians.
New Zealand bowling except for their captain again seemed to lack in direction and consistency and Vettori will not be happy with the same. This is the second game in the running they have allowed to get the Indians of to a flier. The Indian batting line up is aggressive and is not dependent on Sachin as they used to be few years back.The only way to contain the Indian batting line up is getting wickets at regular intervals and getting rid of Sehwag early.
Dhoni will be really disappointed as this might have been another huge chase for the hosts and could have been a victory for the Indians. Now they have to wait for the third game to try taking the lead to make is 2-0 which will make sure that the Indians cannot lose the series. The Kiwis need to find a way to restrict or get rid of Sehwag early to have a chance at keeping the target to manageable proportions.
The rain has been really frustrating and it seems like the players have to play all the games with the Duckworth Lewis in the mind all the time. Hopefully we can see at least one full 50 over contest in the coming three games.
Rain Frustrates the Indians
Posted on: March 6, 2009
Sachin on his way to 61 in the second ODI at the westpac stadium
India were 188/4 in 28.4 overs when the rain stopped play for the final time in the second one day international in Wellington. There were three stoppages of play within the 28.4 overs bowled by the Kiwis. The game began as a 50 overs contest, reduced to 44 after the first break and then to 34 after the second before being called off.
The Indians were really well placed to set a difficult target to the Kiwis. The visitors were scoring at 6.55 runs/over when the rain halted the play with the captain Dhoni and Raina at the crease. The Indians once again started briskly with Sehwag and Sachin putting on 76 for the first wicket. Sehwag was out after making a whirlwind 52. Gautam Ghambir Joined Sachin at the crease.
Once Sehwag was out Sachin cut loose and India were motoring along at 7 runs/over when the rain halted the play for the first time. The score during the first interruption was 130/1 in 19 overs. The hosts pulled things back after the resumption with the wickets of Sachin for 61, Ghambir for 20 and yuvraj for 0. But the problem for the Kiwis was that the Indians were still scoring way over 6 runs/over.
It seems to be the strategy of the Indian think tank that they keep the run rate up all the time and one of the two batsmen at the crease always goes for it and the other forms the anchor. Since all the ODI games seem to get interrupted by rain the strategy seems worth the try and for now seems to be working for the Indians.
New Zealand bowling except for their captain again seemed to lack in direction and consistency and Vettori will not be happy with the same. This is the second game in the running they have allowed to get the Indians of to a flier. The Indian batting line up is aggressive and is not dependent on Sachin as they used to be few years back.The only way to contain the Indian batting line up is getting wickets at regular intervals and getting rid of Sehwag early.
Dhoni will be really disappointed as this might have been another huge chase for the hosts and could have been a victory for the Indians. Now they have to wait for the third game to try taking the lead to make is 2-0 which will make sure that the Indians cannot lose the series. The Kiwis need to find a way to restrict or get rid of Sehwag early to have a chance at keeping the target to manageable proportions.
The rain has been really frustrating and it seems like the players have to play all the games with the Duckworth Lewis in the mind all the time. Hopefully we can see at least one full 50 over contest in the coming three games.
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