Category — Cricket

After Kolkata, the Mumbai crowd was obviously a refreshing change for Rahul Dravid and his boys in blue. And it showed in the way Dravid went out of his way to acknowledge the Mumbai crowd after guiding India to a much deserved victory in the last match of the India-SA ODI series.

And more than the crowd, I think the MCA should be complimented for coming up with a pitch that assisted the seamers by providing seam and bounce, the spinners by providing enough turn and bounce and also the batsmen by providing them with a true bounce to enable them to play their shots without trepidation. Hats off guys!!

And ohhh… whoever heard of dew in Mumbai?!! … I think Graeme Smith was fooled into believing in the “dew factor” bogey created partly by the media. He should’ve made use of the super-sub Robin Peterson, but the fear of a wet ball prevented him from tossing the ball to the young spinner. As a result, The South African bowling attack was largely one-dimensional… and proved to be fairly easy to negotiate for the Indians.

Last but not the least… I am glad Mumbai showed the grumpy Kolkatans, what home crowd support means!!

Damn… damn… damn!!! … I am cursing myself for missing out on watching today’s 3^rd ODI between India and Sri Lanka live on TV!! With Dhoni going on a rampage in the Sri Lankan china shop, the devastation was surely something not to be missed!!

Damn!!

But I am also amazed at the way Indian team is performing currently. Today’s newspapers carried stories of how the Sri Lankan think-tank wanted to target Tendulkar who had been unnerving the Lankan bowlers with his trademark clinical ferocity. And target they did!! … With Tendulkar out of the way, the Sri Lankans would’ve surely considered themselves to be in the driver’s seat in today’s match!

But what an innings by Dhoni!!

Wow!!

I just wished that he had continued his free stroking and completed the first ever double century in an ODI!!

But then… one must not be too greedy, no!!? ;-)

And just for annihilating the Lankans as he did today… I think we should call him ‘Hanuman’ !!

Now that Team Mumbai, comprising many new young players, has defeated the Sri Lankan team in a one-day tour game, people will expect a tour win for India, no less, in the forthcoming ODI series.

People may regard this win by Mumbai as just a flash in the pan. But anyone who’s followed international cricket in India will acknowledge that there are just too many flashes in this pan to ignore! Wo can forget the drubbing that Mumbai handed out to Australia before the start of the 1998 Australian tour of India. And then of course, Sachin Tendulkar went on to thrash the living daylights out of Warne’s bowling in the subsequent Test series.

So will something similar happen this time around too? Given the dismal performances by the Indian team on and off the pitch in recent times, it is hard to be optimistic. But with Sachin Tendulkar back in the side and Saurav Ganguly out of it, we might just see a different Indian team competing. Call me optimistic! … but hey… that’s what I am!! ;-)

The incentive for the Indian team, you ask??

A packed schedule right upto the 2007 World Cup should be incentive enough. With so many matches to be played between now and then, consistency will be a huge factor. After all, the recent Challenger series has thrown up so many interesting probables that even the stalwarts in the team need to be on their toes… driving their stakes firmly into the ground!

The point is… India needs to start winning matches on an urgent and regular basis. And what good way to start that off than comfortably winning a home series against Sri Lanka. That will not only get the Indians into a winning habit… but also give them the satisfaction of defeating the 2^nd ranked team in the world.

Mumbai has provided the perfect incentive for the Indian national team. After all, the national team will surely not want to do worse than a team that, some say, is past its glory days!!

I wonder what it is with Indian left arm medium pacers and tournament finals?!! I can think of at least 3 tournament finals featuring India where the left armers have struggled to perform and have given away tons of runs… which has meant that India has earned the dubious title of ‘chokers‘ when it comes to the finals!!

2003 World Cup Final
Zaheer Khan 7 - 0 - 67 - 0

2005 Indian Oil Cup Final
Irfan Pathan 9 - 0 - 53 - 0

2005 Videocon Triangular Series Final
Irfan Pathan 5 - 1 - 40 - 0 (at the time of posting)

Well… strange, isn’t it?!! ;-)

Four matches into the 2005 Ashes series, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the contest is between the entire English side, that has its cup brimming with so much confidence that it’s a wonder it doesn’t spill over, and a couple of Australian players, i.e. Brett Lee and Shane Warne. The grit and the fight shown by these two Australians is exemplary! Lee’s exultation after clean bowling Flintoff with a beauty on the fourth day of the fourth Test is an excellent example of the passion displayed by him (and Warne) during this series.

The rest of the Aussie team seems to be down under, figuratively speaking of course!

With over 10 days to go for the final Test, there is enough time for McGrath & co. to recover back to full fitness and make this an already memorable Ashes tour, a very special one!