Glen McGrath "The Lord of the Cricket Gods"

I am quite sad as i am writing my fourth tribute in a sequence of tributes to the true Legends Of World Cricket. After Brian Lara, Inzamam and Anil Kumble, McGrath announced his retirement from Cricket. Cricket is very fast becoming more human as all legends are retiring one by one. Now no one can see the top spin of Kumble, cut shot of Lara, power hitting of Inzamam and tight line length of McGrath. No farewell is better than getting the highest accolade (Man of series in the Crickets supreme tournament) in the last series and winning the World Cup for the team.

Indians do believe that Sachin gave a great fight to McGrath but when i look back at the history i only found Sachin struggling and giving his wicket in the very first over he faced. The first super six match in 1999 world cup was very crucial for India as well as for Australians as both teams had reached the super six stage with zero points. India crucially needed Sachin to fire as some 280 odd runs were required in 50 overs but McGrath had some other intentions and he single handedly demolished the much vaunted Indian top order including the prize scalp of Sachin in very first over. The same thing was repeated by McGrath in world cup 2003 final when he took the wicket of Sachin in the first over of India's inning.

I faintly remember the contribution of McGrath when Australia won the Frank Warrell series by defeating West Indies in 1994. In that series McGrath was a great reply to the fierce bowling pair of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. And from that series McGrath never looked back and now we all can see he has become a True legend.

Although he was never a gentleman on the field and he showed the same by referring Jayasurya as black monkey, spitting gesture to Lara and shameful duel with Ramnaresh Sarvan. The world will remember you as the greatest bowler it has ever seen.

World Cup 2007 Final (AUS-SRL)

Australia won their 4th World Cup title and made a hatrick of winning three in a row while Sri Lanka also made the hatrick as it became the third Asian team to get a defeat in World Cup final after Pakistan and India in 1999 and 2003 respectively. The final was just a replay of last world cup final when Ponting single handedly won the last final here Gilchrist did the same in this final and he played his greatest inning. Murlitharan and Vaas were not able to induce any affect on the Aussies the only consolation was Lasith Malinga.

To make 282 in 38 overs was never going to be easy for the Lankans and their start was disastrous but then Jayasurya and Sangakkara gave a rare hope for a setback but Clarke and Hogg sealed the match for Australia. I never saw such a dominant world cup campaign although Australia won the last world cup without a defeat but there were some memorable encounters in last world cup like Eng-Aus, Nzl-Aus etc.

Another legend has said adieu to Cricket and this time he is my favourite bowler Glenn McGrath and he reserves a separate post. Australian dominance is certainly not good for cricket and other teams have to improve their games otherwise people will lose their interests in the the game.
Australians, you deserve this accolade and cheers for you.

World Cup 2007 Semi Final 2 (RSA-AUS)

Millions were hoping that the second semifinal would be The match of the world cup but so far it has been a pathetic match as far as RSA is concerned. I havent seen such a pathetic display of batting in such a crunch match and it will find its parallel in World Cup 1999 final when Pakistan crumbled against the Australians. For me it seems that Smith and company played this match without any game plan and it can easily be proved by hearing the sound of cracking of timber when Smith and Kallis were batting. McGrath was supreme in his bowling and SW Tait was awesome. Gibbs tried to recreate the World Cup 1999 magic but he failed to do that and he passed the baton to Justin Kemp to give certain credibility to the South African score. Nel tried hard to give full support to Kemp and his commitment was exemplary. Kemp played a gem of a inning but it was never enough.
Well again my prediction came right as Australia is in cruise control and i am bit afraid about breaking of Sachins record of (673 runs in a single edition of World Cup) by Mathew Hayden. RSA doesnot deserve to play in the finals as they were beaten comprehensively by Bangladesh, Australia and NewZealand in the league and super six matches. They are the 4th rank team in the World cup after Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand. So they deserve a defeat in the semi final. Now over to Grand Finale between the acrobatic Sri Lanka and audacious Australians. My favourite is Sri Lanka in the final.

World Cup 2007 Semi Final 1 (SRL-NZL)

It was a treat to watch Mahela Jayawardene in the first semi final of cricket world cup 2007. His inning will be placed as one of the topmost ODI inning in all time great innings list. He came at a stage when Sri Lanka was struggling after losing their top two batsmen JayaSurya and Sangakara. Jayasurya is the only batsmen in Cricket history who has scored the equal number of runs in the two semifinals that he played. In 1996 world cup semifinal against India he scored 1 run and now he scored the same against NZL in this semifinal, quite an amazing feat. When Jayasurya was returning to pavilion then Vaas showed him that he got out on a straight ball.
Now let get back to the match. Upal Tharanga also played a good knock while riding on his luck. He scored 73 runs of 74 balls. Two bad decisions could have damaged Sri Lankan chances but they had their Captain at their disposal. Jayawardene once was scoring at such a slow rate (29 runs of 61 balls) but just after 35 overs he started playing some great shots. It was a treat to watch his sixes and fours against the bowling of Mr. Bond. This inning will certainly go as one of the greatest inning ever played in ODI history in all Cricket chronicles. He was not out at 115 runs of 109 balls that means that he has scored his last 86 runs in just 48 balls.

Well i was betting on Sri Lanka to win this match before today and Jayawardene has proved me right. Now the ball is in New Zealand court and i firmly believe that they will crumble against the supreme bowling attack of Sri Lanka. Cheers to Sri Lanka who is trying hard to play the finals (In last 6 world cups, Asian teams have played 5 World cup finals and have won 3 finals). As i hoped NewZealand batting crumbled in the match despite some good knocks from Styris and Fulton, and Franklin and Patel later in the match. Murlitharan as always gave his best and demolished the NZL sedan. Sri Lankan fielding was as acrobatic and agile that even RSA will find hard to compare them, their team spirit and commitment has no parallel and i think Sri Lanka deserves to win this world cup and if they do so then no body will be more happier than me.

My heart goes sad when i look at the situation of New Zealand team as they were good but Sri Lanka was a better team this time and they deserve to play in the finals. But i feel we must congratulate Stephen Fleming and his team for a good show of NZL in this world cup. He is the most unfortunate captain in ODI history. Stephen Fleming announced his resignation as captain of ODI side in post match conference and best tribute for him came from rival captain Mahela Jayawardene "Stephen's been a great leader for New Zealand for some time, and you could learn a lot from him," he said. "He was a very attacking captain, but it's been a long time [at the top] and he probably feels he needs a break. He's been one of the top captains of the last ten years."

A tribute to Brian Charles Lara who inspired almost a generation

Cricket has lost it topmost ambassador. Brian Lara has been a true ambassador of Cricket and he always graced the game in true spirits. I hardly remember his involvement in any incident harming the spirit of the game. Such was the aura of Mr. Great. We are so fortunate to see the art of worlds greatest batsmen of all time. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and Brian Charles Lara reserve a place in golden color in all Cricket chronicles. We are very lucky (i think all Indians are) that we have not seen Laras greatness against Indian team but that cannot take any thing from him.

The game has been losing its greatest artists in the form of Shen Warne and Brian Lara and it will see through its tearful eyes the loss of Sachin Tendulkar, Glen McGrath and Ricky Ponting. As they say Game is greater than the players and time is the greatest heeler so new people will come but the void created by these giants will never be fulfilled.
May God give them success in all of their future endeavors. Amen.

The Apocalypse of Indian Cricket

Mathew Hayden gave a bold statement in 2001 immediately after the great IND-AUS series
"Cricket is a religion in India and Sachin is God". And when some points a finger or put a blot on his attitude then there will be an apocalypse as Gods are above all blames.
Mr. Chappell, i tried to decipher his methodology for full 22 months (you can read in my last posts) but i failed to grasp even a 1% of that and the Team India reflected the same by giving their comments against Mr. Chappell. How can be Sachin's attitude questioned? Who can forget his coming back in 1999 World cup final after the death of his father and scoring a blistering hundred? and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man. Who can forget his back to back centuries in Sarjah when storm stormed the entire stadium? Who can forget his century against PAK in 1999 at Chennai despite of his back injury? and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man. Who can forget his centuries against AUS in 1999 when all team members were failing like bunch of jokers? and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man. Who can forget his relinquishing of captaincy when India suffered embarrassing defeats against AUS in 1999-00 (still much better performance than this world cup) and look at Rahul Dravid he is silent like a dead dodo and Greg Chappel says Sachin has an attitude problem and Chappel is an honorable man. Who can forget his bold statement when India suffered early hiccups in World cup 2003 and after that he single handedly took India into the finals and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man.
Chappel did the right thing by resigning as you cannot live by pointing fingers on your own Gods. Now its upto Rahul Dravid to come forward and break his silence and give a real picture of Indian Cricket and let the truth prevail. Amen.

Anil Kumble The jumbo jet of indian cricket

It was a truely sad feeling from the bottom of my heart to observe the worst possible farewell of greatest match winner India has ever produced. Anil Kumble belongs to a team that does not play much test cricket against the weak player of spin (read New Zealand, England, RSA, WI, AUS) otherwise he would have reserved the same status as enjoyed by Shen Warne in international media. Here i will be talking about Anils ODI record, his test record is impeccable. Anil started his career when indian team was struggling to get a quality bowler as Narendra Hirwani and Maninder singh were performing in bits and pieces. He got the offer and he performed that with total commitment. He had a dream ODI run during Azharuddin captaincy. When Sourav took captaincy anil took the senior role and played a major role in nurturing Harbhajan singh, Murli Karthik and many others. It was pathetic to see Harbhajan getting an edge over Anil during those days and may be that cost us the world cup. His fielding has always been the area of concern but his dedication and fighting spirit require no certificate. He played a major role in the finals of ODI tournament won by India. Some of the finest ODI moments provided by him:

His dream 6 for 12 in Hero cup final in 1993, WI was bowled out at 123. Anil was Man of Match in this match.
His 4 for 25 in Titan Cup final against RSA in 1996. India won the cup and Anil won the MoM.
He was the leading wicket taker in World cup 1996.
He won the Man of the series in first Sahara Cup 1996.

He is the one who was appointed the Vice Captain of team India only to be removed within 3-4 months and thus he lost the chance of leading team India that was ultimately grabbed by his 6 year junior in international cricket. Those were his hey days when we used to say proudly that Anil is our trumph card. Lets wish to see his glittering farewell at least in Test Cricket. Amen.