Unlucky Tendulkar and Hawkeye

Well, it has refreshed the memory of old days (about ten years), when Indian batting revolved around him and once he got out, resistance seemed to be sucked out from Indian Batting line up. Today, when it looked that He might carry India into a position of safety, Mr Harris spoiled it.

I have compiled some reactions to his dismissal. Don't feel good about writing this post. Remembering about Semi final World Cup dismissal to Sanath Jayasuriya. India managed 120 -8 and Tendulkar  made about 66-67.

67.2 Harris to Tendulkar, OUT, 82.9 kph, Harris has struck! What a wicket. And that over the wicket and outside leg stump line has worked again. The little big man of Indian cricket has fallen after a fine hundred. It landed outside leg stump on a length, Tendulkar went for the sweep, the ball turned in, bounced off the thigh pad, went on to the elbow guard and fell on the stumps. Harris can't believe it, he runs around in sheer joy and falls flat on his back on the ground even as the team-mates crowd him. What a moment.

Jerome rubs it in : "where are those harris critics now? "

Jaco du Toit: "I guess I have to apologise to Harris. What do I know?. Just your regular sideline coach it seems.."

Tiaan: "About the whole Harris argument.....all I am saying is...he got lucky with Tendulkar's wicket,..one Swallow does not make a summer."

Sarang: "Harris is acting like a bowling machine that is pitching the ball in the rough outside the legstump. All 3 wickets he got were because of variable bounce and not due to his contribution. He is not changing line or length."

Tendulkar didn't leave the crease for a while. He couldn't believe the ball had gone behind him to hit the stumps. He shook his head, and shook his head again, stood there for a while in utter disappointment before he slowly trudged off.

cricinfo has introduced a new feature under the name of Hawkeye, but it is different from what you see on telly.

Ponting's Pair.

I was just reading a column on Cricinfo where a reader asked whether Ponting has ever scored a pair. I was wondering about the India V Australia series(Laxman's) in 2001, where Ponting did not score too many runs. So I did some digging and could not find a test where Ponting made a pair, but he indeed got out for duck in two consecutive innings, Kolkata test's second innings and Chennai test's first innings.
Any guesses as who was getting him out during that series???

Will it be or Won't be

Back to my favourite pastime of predicting tomorrow's outcome. Will Sachin be able to complete his century tomorrow after an "ordinary" batting performance from India. Let's see. What I am going guess that if he doesn't complete, then what is the reason. Does he get out or he runs out of partners? Let's see.....

Virender Sehwag - Cricketer of the decade

Virender Sehwag is rated as the cricketer of the decade by internationally acclaimed sports writers, such as Peter Roebuck and Derek Pringle. This is quite a remarkable achievement for a person who was dropped from Indian team at one point of time. You will not find any other instance in international cricket where a player becomes number one when he was not even a part of playing eleven.

He is known as an impact player and such is his impact that he is already being compared with Vivian Richards for the sheer audacity he seems to possess. Mind you, here he is not compared to The Don, or to Hutton but to the King for the capability of dominating bowlers. Even in the Indian team, there are more prolific run getters in form of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, but even these stalwarts do not possess triple hundreds.

And those who talk of consistency, take this example, all but one of his last 11 century innings, have a score of 150 plus. This statistic is mind boggling for a person attributed of not having good footwork and who relies on hand eye co-ordination.

One last thing, Pringle as indicated that his results are compiled on the basis of statistics only. Howzzzzzzzat???

India comes on top

India held her nerve register a win in a tense situation where they would have lost nine out of ten times. If I dare say, we have seen India losing from similar situations where Sri Lanka were in. But, this has been a refreshing change in the approach where they managed to stay in. Ironically, we will not often find figures of 88 and 81 of 10 overs treated with respect,but Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra have just managed that.
With 9 wickets in hand, Srilanka were the favourites with about 15 overs remaining and 100 runs required, but when it mattered, India held there nerve and came out as winners. Not too long ago, we have seen India losing from a confortable position where Tendulkar wrote an epic when he made 175. We have lost from a winning position, but today, we have managed to pull it off and as they say, it would be apt to say that we snatched victory from jaws of defeat.
I just hope that we continue to retain this spirit of never say die, because we do not lack in skill, but attitude.

Greatest comeback in Test Cricket

This is perhaps the only series in the history of test cricket, when a team trailing by 0-2 went on to win the series by 3-2. Australians emerged as winners, and their captain, Don Bradman was under considerable pressure when Aussies were trailing by 0-2, owing to his batting and captaincy. But what a remarkable comeback it was, and the word "great" would have been the more appropriate word used instead of "remarkable", had the series had been played in recent years. But this series was played few decades ago and Bradman became the greatest gambler of all time, I dare say.

In the third test, the pitch was very treacherous which prompted english captain to declare even they were in deficit. Bradman did not have this choice of not batting, but he did have a choice about deciding the batting order, and he inverted the batting order. Australia were again 90 odd for 5 and then went on to score some 550 odd runs (Bradman - 270). Australia won the test match, and later on, the series and it will not be an overstatement to say that this was "the greatest comeback" in history of cricket.

Details of the match can be found on cricinfo.

Edgbaston

Back to my favourite pastime of incorrectly predicting outcome of a test match. Well, this time I am betting on a draw and Australia dominating most part of it. Michael Hussey will be scoring big runs and Ian Bell will come good for England. Flintoff will struggle here.
Too many predictions, I am hoping some of them coming true.

Ashes - Crystall Ball

Time to gaze the crystal ball. After losing the second test by 100 runs, Australia would be looking to comeback. Anyone who thinks that they are not capable of coming back is sliding on thin ice. Australia are going to hit hard in next test in Edgbaston. But this is not what I am trying to look into. I am searching for the player who is going to make an impact in next test and I am betting on Mitchell Johnson. Don't laugh me off, I did predict closure of last test correctly. See you in Edgbaston. Let it be a close fought test and series....

Finally, a predicition goes right

For a change, I rightly predicted, or guessed when the Lord's test will be completed and I accurately guessed before lunch time last day. Congratulations to England, they have been playing good cricket from last day in Cardiff. In my opinion, that last day must have given them lots of confidence.

Good luck for Edgbaston.

Another prediction goes wrong

But it's good for the game. That is what cricket is all about. And when history is at stake, how can someone expect a straightforward result. There are always factors associated in test cricket, and the foremost important factor is glorious uncertainties. Then the fact that Australia have not lost a test in Lords for seventy five years, then no one has chased this target in the history of the game.

And above all, English players would like to give Andrew Flintoff a memorable send off. Suddenly, the game has become very ineteresting and it has thrown the series wide open.

My take: England are still going to win this.

Third Day - Lord's

Interesting will be an understatement. England did what we hoped for and last two days were quite humbling for all mighty, all conquering Australians. As my feeling has been always, largely a team is as good as their bowling is, this time English bowlers demonstrating exactly the same and they are helped aptly by batsmen.

England are indeed in a very formidable position, and it will be good to see what kind of effort Australians are going to put in to save this test.

Another prediction from me, though I am really walking a tight rope. Fifth day, by lunch, this test should be over. I am not going to predict who will win, its pretty much decided,unless we have a miracle. of course, I have not covered the rain factor.

As always, my prediction goes wrong. But I dare again...

I have been made to eat my words again. England has done very well in their bowling attempt. A colleague of mine, Brian has indicated yesterday that england never play second day well at Lord's and that is what which has exactly happened.

Good bowling by England lads, and probably this could be a fitting farewell to Andrew Flintoff and another down to earth experience for Mr. Integrity, if Ashes is regained by English side. But my concerns are elsewhere and cleary on India's chances on World cup 2011. Looks to me that this famed (sans RD,ST) batting line up was not a match for chin bowling. Let's see what happens, but it does seem to me that Mr. Dhoni's honeymoon is over. Not that I don't like him, but greater challenges lie ahead of him. After all, he is from the same town where I have done my studies.

Well, I am making another observation, ST will definitely a part of Indian team for next world cup. It will be another matter that they will not win it. I will be too happy if I am proved wrong. Chuckle...

Ashes - Test Two

Suddenly a shift from the theme. You probably will wonder why something about cricket is featured here. I am compelled to tell the reason behind it. I am a "Chora Ganga Kinaare Waala" who is currently not very far from Thames. There is lot of excitement about cricket is here, and every time England manages a good display on the field, it feels that they have won a series. As a colleague aptly pointed out, they talk about football wordl cup win, as if it has happened yesterday.

So what do I think after it is 364/6 first day. The answer is, they made 400+ in Cardiff and barely survived. I am not giving much chance to them unless the bowling department fires. In my opinion, best result for England is a draw.

Let the story unfold...