The Slip and the Miss

India has been very poor in the overseas for couple of years from now. But recent times are better compared to what have been going on for the past few years. The Indian teams test failure can be attributed to couple of factors such as the lack of combination. Seniors and legends leaving the arena with in a short span of time will always have an effect on the team. But at the same time the results has not come as expected because of certain factors like not able to find the right combination.

Apart from the batting failure on occasions and bowlers not able to find the lengths are some of the reasons. Slowly the batting and bowling combinations are falling in place except for the spin combination outside the sub continental conditions.

One of the main reasons why India has not been able to catch the game by it neck and drag it towards the win is the lack of one main combination of fielding. There are no second thoughts about the fielding abilities of the current crop of Indians. Never has been the test team filled with such a lively fielders who can take blinders and induce a run out with their quick on field efforts. But saying so their fielding brilliance has always caused wins at shorter formats.

The legends of the past were able to win test and key moments in test’s not only with their batting or bowling skills but also with their fielding skills too. Yes they were slow runners and would not take a stunning diving catches in cover, point or the boundary. But they were always best at a more important place were the ball went most of the time.

The famed slip cordon of Indian legends. The best of them was none other than Rahul the wall. First slip was always seen with the Indian middle order too. The gully was been taken care by the tall and lanky Kumble who made it his own position. On turning tracks it was a toss between Rahul and VVS fighting for the first slip position. There were very few occasions when the ball would slip out of the hands of these legends and was called a missed opportunity. This consistency was the reason why we have a record holder in Rahul Dravid as the person with most number of catches in test history. This meant all the captain had to worry was to call in one of his aces to take care of the slip cordon and in case of MSD all he had to do was to have a chat with one of them for a idea when things dint go their way with the bowling.

Current bunch of fantastic fielders are finding it a bit hard to take catches in the same place where legends of the past galloped those like a kid snatching candy. One reason of this is level of concentration needed for taking catches like these. You need to be bored to hell and still concentrate on every ball for taking those catches. Something you can attribute to the batting styles, when in need you have a do nothing but to concentrate and look for those odd loose balls.

It will take sometime for these guys to get into the grove of playing long innings on testing conditions and to also take all the catches that comes their way in slips.

Looking forward for the time when once again the “Slip will not Miss” catches coming their way.      

Catches Win Matches

Yes catches do win matches and it is very evident from the past 10 days of IPL matches. In one game there has been a time when we saw some easy once go down and the respective team loss a game just because they could not hold to the catch which was offered. The other situation when match has been last from a winning position when a catch has been taken from no where.

Let us take few of the matches which has been last just because a catch was dropped in this years IPL. First it is a team which has been the best fielding side for all of the IPL and it was CSK. After scoring a ton of runs on a pitch which had a lot for batsmen in came Maxwell with whom the term attacking batsman cannot be compared, rather you will have to say a brutal batsman. He was in a great form of hitting the ball rights from the word go. He gave a gift to CSK and it was not accepted. Then again against the SRH he gave a chance at 11 and it was once again rejected. The result the match was lost by both the teams and on both the occasions Maxwell was instrumental in the wins.

Coming back to catches winning matches, CSK played match against DD and RR and on both the games were at their best, taking some blinders and removing batsmen on important junctions of the game brought them victory and on both the games there was not even a single drop. This shows how much important the catching is for a team.

Coming to yesterday’s game, the match between KKR and RCB was balanced heavily against the men from Bangalore and was to be won easily. That is when according to me two catches changed the result of the game. Yuvi played an innings out of his character but a needed one. Where he played a calm innings when it was needed. Virat was going great and he played the rotating innings, the best was when he played Narain with proper defense and was never troubled by his variations.  He played an innings against him which most of the team do against the best bowlers, play out that bowler and attack others. He did the same, once Virat departed he played the attacking game and when he was going great a good catch at extra-covers did the trick. This was very good and important catch of the match since the hit was a good flat drive which was fast too.

But that catch of Yuvi was just the starting of what was to come.  Still sitting a bit comfortable with two great hitters in AB and Morkel and just 9 run needed by RCB came may be the catch of this session. AB’s hit was mistimed and was destined to be caught at the boundary a good judging fielder in Chris Lynn could have swallowed it easily. But that was not the case, he made a little mess of it by slipping up a bit. What came after it was something out of this world. The recovery was made by taking a catch with a bent back, judging the distance from the ropes to perfection and taking a blinder so perfect that it made the team to be inspired to an extent where they won and made the batsmen at the other end down on moral that he could not convert the full toss to the boundary. Best example of the term catch wins matches.

From all my playing days from tennis ball cricket to college and club level matches taking good catches has always won matches and missing easy once have always been instrumental in a loss.

Who are the real Hero’s?

I many comments when you read about in many famous site based on cricket or any other sports there are two type of people. One who calls sporting guys as hero and legend and the other who asks if they are hero’s then what about war veterans. 

So who is the right person to be termed as a hero. There are no second thoughts about people who give their life for the sake of a country has to be held high among all others. But at the same time do they get the credit for doing it. They are paid very less and at the same time are not considered while taking a decision by the government all around the world. Take the instance of the Vietnam war, American war returns were looked as if they were criminals for taking up the war for which they were never a part of. Similar is the case with Army men who are fighting against terror outfits and ULFA outfits at our borders. They are seen in bad light in those parts of India. Ask a person from those parts and they will never agree that an Army man is a Hero for them. You have to look at certain things with lighter heart.

For example if a sports person inspires a young person to work hard to achieve something in life both on the game and off the game is a hero. Any one who inspires us is a legend and we as people will always look up to him for inspiration. Sachin’s and Dravid’s for cricket lovers are legends. AR and other musicians are Hero’s and Legends for people who share a passion for music.

Dose this mean the soldiers are not hero’s and legends, are not the people who fought for our independence are hero’s and legends. The Truth is if we ignore them at our heart we are not worth to be living in this world. People are hero and legend in our heart and you don’t need that to be expressed. If you really want their importance to be know educate about them to our younger generation for whom the only idea about a freedom fighter is their ability to remember their name and score marks.

Cricket is a game and watch it as a game. Don’t make comparisons between a cricket hero or a legend to a hero and a legends whom we should have respect from deep down our hearts. Both have made person sacrifices for attain the status so rather than making a big deal about it, I would say “Get a life you looser and live your life with your heart and not mind”.  

Who Is The Best

Who is the best?

A question which arises through all the cricket fanatics head is a simple yet by large the most debatable one is, Who is the best cricket of all time.

Some with in a second would give the answer as “Sachin” for his records, there are other who talk about the elegance of “Lara”, the ruthlessness of a “Pointing”, Impact of a “Kallis”, Unbreakable technique of a “Dravid” or the Average of a “Sir Don”.

There are legends of the game who have come and gone. Legends who stood their ground and played out of their skin to either dent the opposition or to deny a win. Some of them have even left scars in bowlers hearts and minds too. But does these attribute gives them the tag of a best batsman of all time name. This is again a debatable topic. There are many people who fight and ponder upon there hero’s name to be the best. People bring examples about how great player have said what about one and other player during their interview and so on. A Lara says for him Pointing was the Best batsmen whom he respected among the opponent, Sachin says he felt Kallis was the most impact player of all and so on so forth.

There are other theories too a Lara broke down when all the pressure of batting was on him, same could be the case with Pointing. Pointing to his own admission mentioned it was the pressure which got the best of him rather than form when he retired. Sachin on the other hand had to carry the pressure of the biggest cricket watching population in the world and he did it for 24 years. Dravid was always played with a tag of being not so gifted player like all others around the world. He had to slog like a mule day in and day out to be what he is to date. Kallis was the endurance machine for his country with both bat and bowl. Lara and pointing were the gifted lot, everything they touched turned to gold.

There are other arguments among commoners like, Sir Don only played against a type of opponents and never against the spinners on a spin friendly tracks. But we should not forget he played in an era were there were no covers for pitches, high quality protective gear and bats like we have for the past 15 odd years. But still he has an amazing average that can only be dreamed in today's world of cricket

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So all this brings us to on simple question. Who is the best Batsman of all time. For me it is not a single person of the above. In this case it has to be taken in correlation with the Hindu Religion were we don’t have one single God rather many of them from one region to another. For me all these players are Gods and have made what Cricket in the religion today is.

Coogee bay rebels Vs Clovelly

It was a soggy week end, Friday night and day shover's had put the already rain crippled game in doubt. The morning drizzle also did not help my cause and i was thinking about other options for spending the week end. To mine and Raju's(my room mate who plays for Coogee bay rebels 2nds) surprise the expected message from my captain of the second grade Matt, never turned up. So on the thought of returning back with out much action in our minds we started the train ride and then the bus ride. As soon as we got down from the bus there was a slight drizzle which welcomed us to Booralee park. Booralee park is one of my favorite grounds just for its outfield and location. Well coming back the rain gods had a sight of relief towards us, it stopped raining to help our cause. the game started, Matt own the toss and choose to bowl first with unknown conditions and slow out field. The first ball was filled with action, Prezo one of our bowlers bowled a short ball and the batsmen totally lost trying to play a pull. leaving him smelling the ball and then the smell of his blood. The ball hit his fore head causing a wide open cut just above his left eyebrow, he was rushed to the hospital and he had to endure six stitches. Well his story does not ends here guys.

Then after a great spell from Javed our pak player in the team from one end and Prezo from other scoring runs was a tough act. There were few good blows by the batsmen and our skippers field placing and some good catching by Ashi brought their downfall one shot too many is what can be said. Each of the bowlers bowled well and they lost 8 wickets. After grabbing the 8th wicket by a run out thanks to a direct throw from Johny, my thinking about the situation was just one more to go because of the early injury. But to my surprise the guy comes out with six stitch to his forehead wearing a helmet to protect it. He walks in winning our hearts with his grit and determination. He was also successful in not only saving his wicket but also helped his team a 2 overs defect to our team cos we could not complete the full quote of overs in time.

The target in front of us was 151 in 38 overs an achievable target by any means. Matt walks to as i was having a hot dog thinking i am never gonna get to bat soon came into another surprise as he asks me to open this game thanks to absence of our regular openers due to injury and non availability. I had a good feeling about playing this time a feeling which creeps in all of a sudden and helps you play well. we walked in and my partner was Raju, just as the first ever match. I say off the first over and was feeling comfortable, but not for long. This guy walks in bowling really good balls moving out in a very odd way and odd lengths, may be it was the conditions. Then after a double and a single i saw Raju playing a loose short and giving his wicket with out opening his account. i was left to face the guy and i was dancing in the pitch. After few body blows and a rash short i lost my wicket to a gem of a ball which broke my defense and clipped the bails. I walked out this time knowing that i lost my wicket to a good ball. Then i say Simon loose his wicket the same way the i had lost and this time around the bail was broken. We were into a shock, and i see Ashi walking in. He chilled our nerves with a huge six and a four and in typical Ashi style he lost his wicket trying to attack the ball out of the round. There were a number of catches going down for us but did not do any help. wickets kept tumbling in with the score crawling slow and low. Dinga the star of the 5th Grade showed few shots and some runs where scored the typical way Dinga plays. how do i know about it, well net sessions and watching him hit few sixes while fielding in the near by ground is how i know. Well coming back to the game, that did not help us in any way cos he also lost his wicket, but nothing could have been done at that moment to our teams cause. The game was well over as Dinga mistimed a shot to covers and was caught. End of the game after few hand shakes i just walked out without even asking how much we scored.

Yet again a game lost, but there were a few positives in this game and of course the courage show by the Guy.

IPL 3.0 At the place where it belongs

IPL 3.0 the 3rd edition of the lucrative, cash rich and widely watched domestic tournament in whole of the cricket community. It is by far the best display of domestic tournament, compare it with the English county T20, Standard bank T20 if i am not wrong in South Africa or even the Big Bash in Australia. The high intensity, people showing interest or the cash involved in it, IPL is the biggest. Last year around the tournament was shifted to the Rainbow Nation South Africa. Although the IPL at South Africa was a success compared to the strength of crowd filling in the stadium and watching every match of another countries tournament, it lacked the flair and passion which is involved with the first Indian Premier League held at its own soil. Close matches where not close enough, big shorts where not big enough, passion of the players was not good enough. Even cricket fanatics like me lost the interest of the IPL 2 season, mainly because of the lack of passion among people of South Africa. There is no mistake on the people, how can a person form Durban, Cape town or New lands be passionate about CSK, DC, MI's,DD,KKR, RR, RC and KIXP?

This time around the IPL 3.0 is back where it belongs, the home turf is the home game and passion runs high so does the thrills of playing in front of the home and away crowds. I still remember some of my friends cheering for Sewag when he blasted the way to a 91 in Chennai and see Warne been taken to cleaners by the talented Morkel. We cherished every moment of the IPL. We where passionate about CSK, but we were also not so bad not cherish our heroes game's to. This is as IPL is all about, sadly for me i am going to miss this year’s edition as i am out of the country.

The build up IPL 3.0 is not off to a great start, silly politicians trying to move a vote bank out of the Australian player for an issue which they have no proper idea about. The politics about a separate state which in turn caused the opening ceremony to be changed from Hyderabad to Mumbai. The security issues which are to be foreseen by the state police and central forces too, players giving out statements in confidence about their security in the country and the PAK players issue.

Then came the IPL 3.0 Ad, the best work of putting a bunch of clips into a promo. The way it is portrayed is how the whole tournament is all about, A dream made into reality. March 12^th let the excitement begin.

It has been quite a while, back with loss in Nagpur

Last year March was the last blog i have posted. But after a long time i thought of starting my digital inking of my thoughts about the game in a new location. Since i have moved into Australia i found a lot of spare time in my disposal and a lot of thought provoking cricket going around the world has also acted as a catalyst for starting the blogging yet again.

No.1 tag was entitled with the Indian team after the Srilankan team was defeated in the India with a below par Murli and totally out of form Mendis. Then came the tour of Bangladesh where the famous quote of Sewag "they can’t take 20 wickets" was dashed at the media, which came into the grind of critics saying "play with bats not words". But the proof of No.1 status was shown to the tigers.

Then came the force, A make shift test series against the so called No.2 champs. South Africans original ODI series was changed into a 2 match test series and followed by a 3 match ODI tour.

India Vs South Africa: First test 2010

India had a tough task ahead, loss of Dravid and Yuvi due to injuries they picked up during the Bangladesh series was a sign showing a week middle order had to be put up with for the series. The inclusion of just seven batsmen for the first series showed the confidence they had in Vijay the reserve opener of the team who has played well against Australians and the Srilankans. The talented, experienced and solid performer in Domestic cricket Badrinath was included in the squad and this time around he was sure of making his name as an international test player for the country. he was finally handed the indian test cap after a long wait, thanks to strong middle order. In a way Badrinath also is like Hussy and talented hard working player proving himself a lot in domestic level and made the cut into the national team only after the retirement of senior player in the team. But here it was not retirement but injuries which helped his cause. Then was the last minute inclusion of Rohite sharma as a cover for VVS Laxman.

The morning blows in India Vs South Africa Feb 6th:

A series advertised as a clash between champions was set to blow the viewers mind of with gripping cricket. The series started off in a blowing fashion, VVS ruled out cause the team management did not will to take risk with his finger and so Rohith was also set to make the cut into the national test side. But it was not so for him, a morning warm up drill saw him lying down in pain. A sudden injury did not help his cause at all, the indian was short of one batsmen now. A panic set into the selection and they played Saha who was a complete misfit in the squad. He was a spare wicket keeper and was never there to be into the playing level. He was given a chance to make Karthick think about his place in the team as the reserve keeper is not a joke. but tables turned and Saha was in playing 11 on the morning team chart.

The second Blow was that of South African openers in hands of hot Zaheer. Zak as he is called was as hot as molten lava running in hard and hitting the right points using the freshness of the pitch very well. He troubled both the openers specially Prince and with a bouncer he was caught by Dhoni, well that is what the score card says but he was a bit unlucky to be given out as replays showed the ball hit the arm guard rather the gloves. But a wicket well earned is what has to be said. Then came the beauty of a ball to claim in form Smith's wicket with a ball pitching in a perfect length and foxing the batmen weather to play or to leave and moved a bit in to remove Smiths wood out of the ground. The SA was in a shock and where blown by the Indian Pace spear head Zak.

Solid as Rocks:

The Early wicket meant all depended on Amla and ever dependable Kallis had to perform rebuilding of the batting the innings. And they responded to the challenge like a rock solid performers. The Indian teams bowling attack looked ordinary because of the conditions and cos of the men in middle. Not one false short, not one chance to the fielders which was let down. A proper exhibition of test cricket batting by both blocking or leaving the good balls and attacking the bad once, scoring in a decent strike rate ending at 3.12 runs per over. Kallis was at his best in this tour leaving the haunted test series when the potteries visited here for a test series. The day ended with no more wickets falling and Kallis on his way towards the all illusive test double hundred he is chasing till now. The morning saw the scoring continue, but it also saw the end of Kallis. Done in by a Bhaji ball which took the inside edge to pop on from his pads and was caught by Vijay. But Amla was not AB de villers, and went on to score a not out 253 of 473 balls. The South African innings was called off at the score of 558/6.

After the rock solid the rocker came in:

India ended the day with 24/0 with the playing surface showing signs of improvement towards bowlers. And Steyn showed why he is the top ranked bowler in the world. A perfect cutter to Vijay say him loose is wicket for not offering a shot. The judgment was not wrong but the ball was unbelievable. As the day went the famed Indian line up was crumbling down until Sewag and Badhri steady the ship. Sewag scored yet another ton and the thought of another 150+ score was lingering around, but it was not to be so this time around and he was out on 109 credited to a lovely catch by Duminy. Then it was Badhri and then the whole side was all out for 233 with the tail not showing any back bone and surrendered to the pace of Stayn. Smith was quick to call the Indians back to the field to bat taking the follow on. The thoughts of famous Calcutta test and the brilliance of Napier was lurking around my mind hoping against hope. But this time around the loose of Dravid and Laxman was felt. This time around both the openers where dismissed cheaply and the promising Vijay did show signs of hope, but failed to deliver( think Vijay is associated with just hype as of Vijay movies does not delivers at the expected time was the thought crossing my mind).

Master Full innings:

The class of master was seen yet again in the second innings. Wickets falling around him yet he was patient scoring at a good pace and strike rate according to the situation. Harries was bowling left arm over the wickets aiming at the rough but Sach was as cool as cucumber and padded him easily. After a 170 minute he scored a single to achieve his 46^th test century 7 a drift from pointing who is hot on his heels. But fortune prevailed over grit this time around. A deliver pitched wide of leg, a length which can be slog swept or paddled took the arm of sachin and took the bail of the stumps. Sach was upset and was evident by the way he crawled out of the pitch into the dressing room. So did was the chance of any revival of the Indian teams chances.

Then came the tumbling wickets down, but this time there were some fireworks from Bhaji and Zak but the there was only one result in this test match and it was achieved when Styen took his 10^th wicket for the match catching Saha plumb in front. End of the match a win of over an innings and 5 run. Which raised a dough in our minds which is the number one team in test???