Some pages from the darkest nights of Indian Cricket

Being an ardent fan of Indian Cricket it is extremely difficult for me to live in the agony of strange exit from the Cricket's Most extravagant confluence. This is not the first time and this wont be the last, Indian cricket has given us so many moments to cheer and as well as to weep. Since this is the time of dense clouds let me remember some of the blackest days of Indian Cricket according to me.

1. Sri Lanka defeated India in 1996 World cup at Eden Gardens. I was mere 13 that time but still i was not able to eat food in that d/n match. I still remember the tears of Vinod Kambli and torn bottles scattered in the ground with scoreboard reading IND 120/8 in 34.1 overs, 132 runs needed in 15.5 overs and 2 wickets in hand. In this match SRI Lankans score once read 1 run for 2 wickets (Jayasurya and Kaluvitharna both gone) and Indian score once read 97 for 1 and Sachin and Sanjay Manjrekar were batting comfortably.

2. Bangladesh defeated India in World cup 2007. I am still not able to believe that this can happen.

3. Sri Lanka defeated India once again and that happened in a do or die match for India in 2007 World cup. I am still suffering from some unkown shivering.

4. The defeat of India against West Indies in 1997 Test match in West Indies. In the last inning India required 120 runs to win the match and series but India was all out for 85 runs. This defeat still pinches Sachin and many others including me.

5. Indian defeat in World cup final 2003. Ponting single handedly demolished the Indian sedan at wanderes, RSA.

6. Indian defeat against Pakistan in the first test match of 1999 test series. Sachin played best inning of his life but the last 4 indian batsmen were not able to make 17 runs. (Courtsey Shobhit).

For me these are the worst days of my life and i hope many will share agony with me. India where sport is religion and all players are equivalent to GODs, a defeat is equivalent to a curse and we all have to live with curse. This is an appeal to all of my friends to please condone the players as the same players had given us so many victories to cherish.

Dying to say Hooha India Gaya India

Well, started the day with a bad stomach hope to finish the day by saying India rocks. Taking fielding after winning a toss can have repercussions in this match and Sri lanka proved that by scoring 254 /6. It is quite a decent total after if we take SriLankan bowling and fielding then this score become equivalent to 290 so we have to pull our socks really hard.
I am quite critical of Dravids Captainship, why he gave bowling to Sachin in slog overs when Sri Lankans had two of their set batsmen doing their job. Indian fielding was bit better than it used to be in the past, even ganguly saved some runs. Well still my favourite in this match is Sri Lanka. Agarkar, Patel and Zaheer all bowled some good spell. Harbhajan was bit expensive and i am still wondering why he is not able to pick wickets. Dravid&Co. You can do it just play your natural game and believe in yourself.
India started their innings to finish their World Cup campaign. Sri Lanka won my last ODI in a grand style. Very sad to see the farewell match of the big three of Indian Cricket..

Indian Juggernaut starts rolling. Beware Srilankan Tigers

Exceptional, unbelievable, incredible performance by the wounded Team India. They came back and came back in style by producing a world cup record breaking batting performance. Earlier i was thinking about 350 score but Yuvraj and Sachin did some exceptional hitting the best i have seen in recent past. This batting performance is equivalent to the Taunton performance by Team India in World cup 1999. Cheers to Team india lets hope that they will continue with this form in the next match. I was shocked to see Sourav struggling against the third rate bowling attack of Bermuda. He is struggling and he has to quickly improve as i am bit scared about Srilanka match. Good to see Sehwag back in form. Much has been said about his batting abilities now is the time to pay back.

Indian bowling was not up to the mark. Its pathetic to see Kumble giving runs at a rate of 4 runs per over to the 3rd rate batsmen of Bermuda and Agarkar getting a huge six. If Indian bowlers continue to bowl in same lackluster way then we are going to have a very tough time against the Sri Lankans. I will give India 30% chance of winning a place in super 8.

Well just want to replicate some lines i heard a year back.

Abhi to yeh angdai hai, age badi ladai hai.

An obituary, a salute and a hope

I saw my first International match at Green Park stadium in Kanpur in India between India-South Africa. This was last test match of the 3 Test match series held in Nov-Dec 1996. Bob Woolmer was the coach of the buddying South African team under the stewardship of late Hansie Cronje. He used to take a round of the stadium with some young lady of ESPN. Myself and my friends hooted him in Hindi and he smiled and waved his hand towards us and that was my closest encounter with Bob Woolmer. A tough coach and a good human, that is the defining line of Bob. He was the person along with Hansie Cronje who took South Africa to such an envious great height. He will be missed in the Cricket world and World cricket has lost a true coach. May his soul rest in peace. But surely his last coaching assignment result was very bad and that led to his breakdown.

Inzamam, Sachin and Jayasurya are the legendary figures of subcontinent. Inzamam was a great fighter in both forms of the game. He was a true batsman. 20,000 runs under his belt what else is needed, his only bad luck was he messed up in wrong team. No one can forget his hitting in world cup 1992 (semi final and final). My favorite inning is his 122 runs against India in Karachi due to which Pakistan came very near to beat Indian score of 349. A gem of all his innings. Hope to see his farewell in a decent form against Zimbabwe.

India will be pulling her socks against Bermuda in order to save a place in super 8. Now the time has come for the big three (Tendua, Dada and Captain) to take all the responsibility and to take India home. They should remember some thing, Before the sun rise the night is darkest so be it. Let give your fans a toast of joy. Amen.

Indian Cricket is dead, Long Live the Indian Cricket. Dedicated to Team India.

Ignominious, humiliating, debasing and many words which i am not able to put are the reflection of the trauma through which we all Indians went through last night after watching the death of Indian Cricket against the Bangladesh. This can happen and happen only to Team India that vaunts about her famed batting line up to the last limit.

The Wall, Mr. Dependable and Mr. Cool did some very horrible errors in the Match. On a pitch that favoured movement to bowling Dravid chose to bat first and this error is the beginning of many errors to come. Prince of Kolkata and Nawab of Nazafgarh opened Indias inning and Sehwag opened his gate to welcome Robin Utthapa who chose to offer his wicket by offering a lolly to Bangladesh. Sourav continued with his current form he adapted his game to the pitch and played a sheet anchor role but Sachin and Rahul got out at wrong time. Yuvraj supported Ganguly and they both played to make a platform for a good score. India was 133/4 in 40 overs. In the next three overs Sourav and Yuvraj scored some good fours and India was well poised at 154/4 in 42 overs and we were hoping about 220 but unfortunately for India both got out in quick succession followed by their ardent followers with Dhoni, Agarkar and Harbhajan all scoring ducks and score was 159/9 in 45 overs. Munaf and Zaheer fought hard to gave india some decency.
I failed to decipher why Dravid came to bat at 5th position why not at number 3. Still the score 191 was not too less. I was quite hopeful about Indias win.

Bangladesh started and started well with Shahriar Nafees firing and firing like hell. Agarkar and Harbhajan failed to take a single wicket combine together while spinner like Mohammad Rafique was able to take wickets of Dravid, Ganguly and Dhoni. Dravid started the procession of bad fielding by dropping a catch in the start of inning followed by Dhoni dropping a lollly, Utthapa dropped 2 catches and harbhajan followed the path shown by his captain by dropping a catch. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was seen smiling after dropping a lolly what an act, that simply showed the his non seriousness. Well i dont think that any Cricketer reserves a right to play with the feelings of millions and millions of Indian fans. Again a blunder was done by Dravid by giving a ball to Yuvraj not to Sehwag and when Sehwag got a chance he got 2 wickets but the time was over. I was shocked by this ludicrous defeat still have some hope left about our chances in the Cup.
Ireland gave the same to Pakistan.

In the memory of Indian Cricket that died on 18th March at Trininad&Tobago, Port Of Spain. May the soul of Indian cricket rest in peace.

A tale of two matches (NZL-ENG) and (HOL-RSA)

16th March witnessed the two world cup matches, one having a fight per ball and the other having a record per wicket. Herschel Gibbs created the World Cup record by becoming the first player to hit 36 runs in an over and Boucher created the fastest fifty record of the world cup with Kallis scoring his world cup maiden hundred. I still remember his 96 runs in a match against India in world cup 1999 the same match witnessed the fighting and sedating 97 by Ganguly. Well i guess minnows are killing the interest by going down so badly against top teams. ICC has to rethink its strategy.
The England-NZL match is progressing towards an exciting finish with Styris and Mcmillan fighting for their country and Flintoff/Collingwood/Anderson for the Queen. England lost the control of the game by allowing NZL to come back strongly after putting a brave 80 odd run partnership between Collingwood and Pietersen. Pietersen was looking good but Mr. Bond had some other thoughts. Nixon and Plunket gave England a hope by putting some 70 odd runs in last 12 overs. English players must be praying "May God save the Queen". Well taking nothing from NZL, England is my personal favourite in this match.
The audacious Indians will start their campaign against upset champ Bangladesh. Hoping for a run feast at Trininad and Tobago, WI.

Time to take a nap.

Over and out from St. Lucia, WI.

A rollicking start to the World Cup.. (Match Report)

An exciting start of the World Cup, West Indies showed the beauty of the game by capitalizing Pakistan convincingly after getting a huge embarrassment from India. No one can complain Inzamam as he has been deprived of his lethal weapons in the form of Mohammad Asif, Akhtar and Abdul Razzaq. Pakistanis were fighting against their destiny as no one can win a battle without their knights. After restricting WI at 99 for 3 in 30 overs they allowed West Indies to make a reasonably good score on a pitch that was favoring seam bowling. Umar Gul was exceptional. Although Kaneria did bowl well, but was blown away by attack from Marlon Samuels.

Some how West Indies managed to reach up to 241 courtesy some pugnacious hitting by Man of The match. Pakistan got a dramatic start with some roller coaster ride by Imran Nazir, got a six of the second ball and got out of the third ball of the PAK inning. Inzamam and Yusuf Yohana (Mohd Yusuf) did some damage control exercise but at the time of an assault both got out and the burden was left on the shoulders of Shoaib Malik and he did nothing wrong. He produced some blistering shots but never got a support from his fellowmen and thus West Indies won a great match.

About 20 days back I declared my World cup semifinalists (RSA, AUS, WI, (IND/SRL)). I hope to see it right.

Now over to England- New Zealand match on 16^th March. I am betting on England to win the match. Over and out from Kingston, Jamaica.