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Kartikeya, Uncle J, King Cricket and AYALAC on the Sehwag innings.

Now, the fun begins.

"Super Patta" is how Harbhajan described the Chennai wicket. The heat and the flatness of the wicket were the causes identified by Sehwag for India's shoddy fielding. South Africa ended their innings at 540 runs. India, in reply, are 82/0 ( at a RR of 3.9).

All of which point to a boring draw. I dont think so.

In their other two sojourns to the subcontinent ( versus Bangladesh and Pakistan), the longest the Proteas have been on the field has been for 107 overs against Pakistan in their second innings at Lahore. In October last year.

If, as Sehwag says, India plan to bat on till tea on the 4th day, it would effectively mean that the Proteas will have been on the field for around 171 overs.

Three thoughts on if that were to happen :-

1. Graeme Smiths' captaincy will be tested, given that wickets will be hard to come by and his bowlers will tire in the heat. Compound that with the fact that there is a pretty good possibility that the Chennai wicket will open up under the sun on Days 4 and 5 and there is the added pressure of containing the Indian run scoring rate.

2. If India do notch up a lead ( and a lead of even 100 runs should be good enough),Smith the opener will have to ensure a good start for his side ( after spending a good little time in the sun).

3. India and South Africa play back to back to back tests. Given that there will be no lag up in the heat at Ahmedabad and Kanpur, it will be interesting to see how Smith handles the work load of his bowlers - does he over bowl Harris to protect Steyn and Morkel or does he bowl Kallis more or does he give himself an extended spell to rest his premier bowlers?

In their previous encounters with Pakistan and Bangladesh, South Africa weren't stretched. Given that the first two days have been bat-a-thons and there is a similar prospect for Day 3, the onus will be on Graeme Smith on how he marshals his troops while balancing this with gaining any advantage over India.

Which is just fine as far as India are concerned.. Unless there is a collective brain fade or exceptional bowling today, India need to set stall for bed and break fast. And then, on Day 4, bat some more. And then a bit more. And, if we are in a mood for it ( and have the wickets in hand), target 952.

Because, a draw at Chennai is not the end of the world. Losing a series to South Africa after a stellar tour Down Under is. And because, if we assert ourselves over the South African captain and bowlers, we are doing ourselves a huge favor for the rest of the series.

Happy Birthday

Sfx & Rahul

Congratulations, The England

for winning the Test series against New Zealand and breaking Harry Potter's heart!

Conflicted interests?

Mark Taylor ( Director, Cricket Australia, Commentator on Channel 9 and member of the ICC Cricket Committee) "has condemned the International Cricket Council's 'zero tolerance' approach to sledging".
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Here is India's forthcoming itinerary ( as of the 7th of February 2007)

India - forthcoming Test and one-day series

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Year	Month/s	Teams/Tournament	Tests	ODIs
2006/07	Jan	HOME v West Indies	-	4
2006/07	Feb	HOME v Sri Lanka	-	4
2006/07	Mar-Apr	AWAY: World Cup (Aus, Eng, Ind, Sth Africa, New Z'lnd, Pak, Sri Lanka, W Indies, Zim, B'desh, Kenya, Ireland, Bermuda, Canada, Scotland, Netherlands) in West Indies
2007	May	AWAY v Bangladesh	*tbc	*tbc
2007	Jun	AWAY: Afro Asia Cup (B'desh. Ind, Sth Africa, Pak, Sri Lanka, Zim, Kenya) in
2007	Jun-Sep	AWAY v England	3	7
2007	Aug	AWAY v Scotland	-	1
2007/08	Sep	AWAY: Twenty20 Championship (Aus, Eng, Ind, Sth Africa, New Z'lnd, Pak, Sri Lanka, W Indies, Zim, B'desh) in South Africa
2007/08	Nov-Dec	HOME v Australia	-	*tbc
2007/08	Dec-Jan	AWAY v Pakistan	*tbc	*tbc
2007/08	Dec-Feb	AWAY v Australia	*tbc	*tbc
2007/08	Jan-Feb	AWAY: ODI series (Aus, Ind, Sri Lanka) in Australia
2007/08	Feb-Mar	AWAY: ODI series (B'desh, Ind, Sth Africa) in Bangladesh
2007/08	Mar	AWAY v Bangladesh	*tbc	*tbc
2007/08	Mar	HOME v South Africa	*tbc	*tbc
2008	Apr	AWAY v South Africa	*tbc	*tbc
2008	Apr	AWAY: Asia Cup (B'desh. Ind, Pak, Sri Lanka) in Pakistan
2008	May	AWAY v Zimbabwe	*tbc	*tbc
2008	Jun	AWAY: Afro Asia Cup (B'desh. Ind, Sth Africa, Pak, Sri Lanka, Zim, Kenya) in Malaysia
2008	Jul-Aug	AWAY v Sri Lanka	*tbc	*tbc
2008/09	Sep-Oct	AWAY: ICC Champions Trophy (Aus, Eng, Ind, Sth Africa, New Z'lnd, Pak, Sri Lanka, W Indies, Zim, B'desh) in Pakistan
2008/09	Nov-Dec	HOME v England	*tbc	*tbc
2008/09	Dec	AWAY v Pakistan	*tbc	*tbc
2008/09	Jan	AWAY v South Africa	*tbc	*tbc
2008/09	Apr	AWAY v New Zealand	*tbc	*tbc

ndia v England 2006 ( series itinerary)

India v England 2007 ( series itinerary)

So why are India and England playing only 2 Tests and 7 ODIs this time round?

Because, according to the BCCI - "What can we do?" Shah asked. "Because of the FTP we need to squeeze other events too."

And according to the ECB - "The tour would have finished on January 5, and the problem is we have an agreement with our players that we will only tour South Africa and Australia over Christmas," a top ECB official told TOI.

Makes me wonder - Did anyone bother looking up the FTP at all?
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PS:- SoulBerry has a petition to save the 3rd Test.. Please do look it up.

EOW probe in ’96 World Cup accounts case reveals Jagmohan Dalmiya misappropriated BCCI funds worth Rs 2.90 crore; charge sheet to be filed in court on March 26

A controversy out of nothing

courtesy Cricinfo.

Here is the Gavaskar article in full.