Wrong call

9-0-36-3 of which 5 overs were bowled at the death.

49 runs in 63 balls that won the match for the team after a middle innings wobble. And this 49 included a phase when making contact with the ball was a challenge.

Yet he hung tough, both with bat and ball.

And if this is not good enough to win Yuvraj Singh the Man of the Match, I do not know what the criteria for the award are.

Now, why this?

37.6 Hall to Yuvraj, no run, short of length delivery outside the off stump, angling away from the left hander, Yuvraj goes on the backfoot and looks to pull it away, mistimes it straight to the fielder at mid on, does not really get hold of that one on that occasion, he is getting frustrated here.

The ask is below 5 runs an over.

There are 12 more overs to go after this.

The guy at the other end is a decent bat.

The guy at the other end is a pretty good runner between the wickets.

You are not too bad between the wickets yourself.

And you are a pretty decent wielder of the willow yourself.

This is the phase when the opposition will lift itself. See through this period and score at a decent clip and the opposition will wilt. Because of their increased efforts and lack of reward.

So, why the frustration?

Why is it

that we don't understand momentum?

Yuvraj Singh warms the benches when he should be out in the middle after a fine bowling spell.

We lose 4 wickets in a flash when we have the opposition at our mercy. And not because the opposition raised their game or bowled out of their skins..

Every dismissal was soft.

Why is it that we hand over the momentum to the opposition, time and time again, when the game is ours to lose?

I respectfully disagree

with the move to hold back Yuvraj Singh and send in Rahul Dravid instead. For two reasons.

1. Yuvraj is a left hander and it makes sense to keep the right hand left hand combination going, especially as the ball is 29 overs old and holds no terrors.

2. Yuvraj needs time in the middle.Coming as he is from a pretty decent bowling spell, it would make sense for him to take that confidence to the batting crease. And then there is the 134 run cushion to fall back on.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

17.6	Nel to Tendulkar, 5 runs, 50! Tendulkar drives a good length delivery into the covers, sprints down the other end, the throw is awful and goes for four overthrows, and THAT, everyone, is 15,000 ODI runs for the man...take a bow
17.5	Nel to Tendulkar, no run, follows up with a slower one, on a good length, and its crunched to cover
That was his 160th six
17.4	Nel to Tendulkar, SIX, awesome! Nel drops short outside off stump, and has to watch the ball sail over deep backward square leg for maximum! A powerful pull shot for six

Over the hill? Past it? Slow?

I'm loving it

• The prospect of India's spinners fronting up against England's bats.
• The fact that Rahul Dravid persisted with the slow bowlers deep into the slog and the fact that the bowlers varied their pace and used their heads
• Yuvraj Singh - bowler. This bowling effort should give him a lot of confidence going into his batting.
• Rahul Dravid - captain. Persistent and clear headed. No muddled thinking. Good field placings, intelligent choice and change of bowling.

And if we go on to lose this one,which I think not, it will be the batters who will carry the can.

Such fun!

The initial letter

The follow up

The follow up of the follow up

Today..

Mumbai: Uttar Pradesh batsman Tanmay Srivastata will lead a 15-member Indian under-19 team in the tri-nation one-day series in Sri Lanka from July 15 and thereafter for two three-day matches against a select Sri Lanka side. Bangladesh will be the third side in the tri-nation series.

One Mumbaikar in the squad of 15.. But what a player!

All in all I do believe this series, especially is a huge waste of time with the important tour of England coming up.

YAY Ravi!

But see the air they breathe. The BCCI has always been a money first organisation. The product and the customer have meant little and hence, the strife it finds itself in. Player contracts are a mess, there is far too much meaningless cricket, there are no A tours to speak of, the academy is, well, there somewhere and there is no coach. The BCCI is always looking at tomorrow, that perfect mirage, for it glosses over a grisly today.

YAY Harsha!

Playing for SLCA, the Baroda-based cricketer contributed 29 runs in SLCA’s first innings score of 128 and later utilised the opportunity to the fullest by removing the dangerous looking Dheeraj Jadhav in his six-over spell.

Good on you, Irfan!

If Morgan wants a theme he will be encouraged in England to lighten an international cricket calendar that, under Indian influence, has become ever more burdensome.

Righto! Fob off your greed onto us David.. Twenty20 anyone?

Worth your while

Cricket and all that and more - here!

Why the doom and gloom?

This was the thought that crossed my mind when I read this piece on Rediff.

Okay, so India lost an ODI against South Africa.. Big deal!!! This was a series no one, barring Lalit Modi, wanted in the first place.

On top of that, 70% of the Indian team is nursing some ailment or the other. So much so that we could not front up 4 bowlers who were healthy/fit.

And yet, South Africa was pushed to the limit. Two spinners in the squad on a cold, blustery Irish morning did not deter the Indians from putting up a fight.

The loss of two early wickets did not hamper the Indians from putting up a decent score, given the conditions.

The way I look at it, Sachin and Rahul had a pretty decent hit in the middle. The bowlers ( the fit ones , that is) had a decent outing in the middle. The players could stretch and test themselves in match conditions, coming as they were from a longish layoff ( Any break greater than 2 days is long when it comes to the Indian team).

And the players showed bottle- in spite of the odds stacked up against them. And that, for me, is the biggest positive we take going into the test series against England.

And with Ranadeb Bose and Ishant Sharma joining the squad, they will get a first hand experience of English conditions in less than testing circumstances.

All that remains to be done is to get the remaining batsmen ( besides Sachin and Rahul) some time in the middle.

This is no do or die battle - the war begins on July 19. Everything between now and then is just preparation and shadow boxing, nothing more, nothing less.

Awesome

the MCA website is - both for the breadth and the depth of its contents.