49 more to go

Saturday, November 07, 2009
About 40 odd minutes to go for the start of the 6th ODI at Guwahati. There was a lot of buzz before the previous game about Sachin reaching 17000 ODI runs. How come I don't see anything in the news media now about him being 49 runs short of 30,000 runs at the international level?

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"Paddy did it"

Friday, September 25, 2009
Courtesy: Cricinfo
"The leaked article was compiled by Paddy Upton and provided information for the players on relationship between sexual activity and sports performance. I never wrote the article and read it for the first time two days ago. It has never been and never will be part of team strategy," Kirsten said. "I have been deeply disturbed by these false allegations and wish to focus my attention on helping Team India have a successful Champions Trophy."

The Indian media did what the Indian media does best. There is no surprise in that. Gary should have known this by now. There is no point being disturbed by such allegations. This would definitely not be the last time that someone would ask him to resign.

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Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Day 1 - Snippets

While the buzz is on in India for tomorrow's clash against Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy, the inaugural season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy - also known as the "100% desi" (no franchises, no foreign exports) Indian Domestic T20 Championship - quietly got underway today. Now how many of you knew that such a tournament existed? There were 3 games, all South Zone games, that were played on the opening day. While the mainstream media is busy covering the Champions Trophy, I'm gonna try and bring in some snippets from the SMA Trophy

Game 1: Andhra vs Hyderabad
Result: Hyderabad won by 10 runs.

Hyderabad's Innings: Hyderabad was asked to bat first and made 176/5. Ambati Rayudu, playing in his first "recognized" T20 game after leaving ICL, scored 53 off 34 balls. Seems like he hasn't been signed by any IPL team yet - he is too classy a player to not to be signed yet. Wicket-Keeper Abhinav Kumar made a better than 2runs-a-ball half century. When was the last time you came across a wicket-keeper who couldn't bat? Paidikalva Vijay Kumar, who made a fairly decent impression for Deccan Chargers in their dismal IPL-1 campaign, was taken to the cleaners and ended up with none for 45 off his 4 overs.

Andhra's Innings: Venu Rao made no score while his kid brother Gnani Rao made 71 off 41. For Hyderabad - Arjun, Absolem and Pragyan bowled well for a combined returns of 5 for 73 off their 12 overs.

Game 2: Kerala vs Tamil Nadu
Result: Tamil Nadu won by 49 runs

Tamil Nadu's Innings: Murali Vijay won the toss and elected to bat. It is interesting that Badri isn't the captain. R Satish who captained the Chennai Super Kings in the ICL would have been another choice to lead in this form of the game. Vijay made 54. He has been a bit off-color after his impressive international test debut. He needs to have a good domestic season to keep the national selectors interested in him. Arun Karthik scored a half-century as well (btw, did you guys know that Arun made his List-A debut playing for Badureliya Sports Club in the SriLankan Domestic League). Sreesanth, fresh off a reasonably successful stint with Warwickshire ended up giving away 37 off his 3 overs.

Kerala's Innings: The Kerala batsmen were never really in the chase. R Ashwin's off-spin yielded 3/16. Balaji was his usual economical self.

Game 3: Goa vs Karnataka
Result: Goa won by 10 runs (first real upset of the tournament)

Goa's innings: Goa won the toss. Swapnil Asnodkar was his merry self at the top of the order and raked up 71 off 48 balls. S Sriram, back from a stint with the ICL made 20 off 16. Anil Kumble who is using this tournament as a practice-run for the Champions league was fairly expensive - going at about 10 an over off his full quota. Stuart Binny ended up with impressive figures of 2/26. He is one player who really benefited from playing in the ICL. His stock his risen considerably after his impressive contributions for the Hyderabad Heroes.

Karnataka's innings: After having just played the KPL, you would think that Karnataka should have easily chased down the target. Young Manish Pandey was the top-scorer with 44. Uthappa, coming in at No.4 hit a couple of sixes, but got out in the 16th over with still 50 runs more to get. In the end, they fell short by 10 runs.

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Some Bravo Trivia

Monday, June 22, 2009
There is a very strong likelihood that both Dwayne and Darren would be playing alongside each other in the upcoming ODI series against India. Name which other Santa Cruz brothers-duo represented the West-Indies together in an international game.

Show/Hide Answer

Jeffrey Stollmeyer and Victor Stollmeyer played a test match against England in 1939

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"Bravo - Double Impact" in store for India?

Saturday, June 20, 2009
Dwayne Bravo single-handedly won the game against India in the Super-Eights of the T20 WC (the game which was the beginning of the end for the defending champions). Now it seems that India would have to counter 2 Bravos in the upcoming one-day series. Dwayne's younger brother is in the team selected to play the first couple of games. Darren, a left-handed batsman played in the last under-19 WC in Malaysia that Virat Kohli and co. won. In the one game that the WI played against India in that tournament, Darren was the top-scorer for WI and he was run-out for 43 by Ravindra -I'm-sorry-I-couldn't-get-out- Jadeja. Hope Jadeja's first-hand knowledge about Darren would help formulate some plans to counter the lesser-known Bravo.

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When the 4th M came to the party..

Friday, June 19, 2009
On what is supposedly the happiest day of the year, the smiling assassins from the emerald isle brought a great deal of joy to their supporters. Everyone knew that it would be hard to get Malinga, Mendis and Murali away, but who would have thought that young Mathews would bowl a dream first over - 3 wkts in 5 balls in the first over and the Windies never recovered from that triple blow. What a tournament this former under-19 captain is having - some top-order wickets, some late-order runs and some outstanding fielding efforts. Shah Rukh must be wondering why he (and Mendis) didn't play like this in the IPL.

On a side note, there was some joy for the people of Kolkata too. Dada made his debut as a commentator for ESPN and I must say had a fairly impressive first day.

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Duminy does a Jadeja

Thursday, June 18, 2009
There will be a lot of talk in the media about how Albie was wasting his time whiling away in the dugout while Duminy was scratching around in the middle. But as young Ravi Jadeja will tell you, it just isn't easy to get out, especially when you really want to hit out or get out. In T20 games like these, it might just be prudent for a player to retire himself out of the middle if he cannot get out. You might see a few future T20 captains trying to do that - forcing a player who is struggling to get a move on to get retired out (The last time I saw this happen in an international game was in a game between SL and BNG)

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KKR's new coach

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Courtesy Cricinfo :
Kolkata Knight Riders, the IPL team that finished last this season, are understood to have decided to remove John Buchanan as their coach and have begun sounding out possible replacements.

Buchanan, Kolkata's director of cricket operations, and Joy Bhattacharya, the team director, refused to confirm the development but the former Australia coach said he would comment on the issue within the next 48 hours. Steve Waugh and Dav Whatmore are among the possible replacements, as well as some Indian candidates, who have been contacted by franchise officials.

Steve Waugh would be a tempting pick, given his success as a captain and his strong Kolkata connection (via udayan). Dave Whatmore on the other hand is a safer bet, given his work at the NCA and his experience as an international coach. I would go with Dave for the simple reason that he understands the sub-continental cricketer (a lot better than Steve).

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