Bottle

A series loss in England, with all of India's problems ( batting. bowling and fielding) coming to the fore was not the best prelude to the World Twenty20 tournament for India.

The washout against Scotland did not help matters either.

For the average Indian supporter, the portends were not good.

And then the match against Pakistan. 1 run to get with 2 balls to go. For all money, India was on its way out of the tournament unless they beat New Zealand and did so handsomely.

And then, magic!

19.5	Sreesanth to Misbah-ul-Haq, no run, short of a length outside off stump, Misbah tries to cut but gets beaten
The field comes in, tension writ on Sreesanth's face.
19.6	Sreesanth to Misbah-ul-Haq, OUT, it's a tie! Misbah can't get it away and hits it towards cover, Yuvraj runs in, picks up the ball and throws it to the non-strikers end, Sreesanth whips off the bails with Misbah well short of his crease, delirious scenes at Kingsmead

Which may have been a flash in the pan or Pakistan being Pakistan. And the bowl-out was frankly ridiculous.

And then the old Indian failings came to the fore in the game against New Zealand. 5-91 was allowed to become 190 all out. And 76-1 became 163 - 9.

Normal order was restored. Or so it seemed.

Against England, Yuvraj Singh turned it on ( or should we thank Freddie Flintoff?). 6 sixes in the 19th over was just sufficient to get India over the line ( India 218 England 200).

Things were looking up but the bowling had yet to come to the party. And India had not shown anything substantial for India's supporters ( me!) that they were the real deal.

The clash against South Africa changed that perception. India batted to a plan, did not panic when the going got tough, Rohit Sharma put his hand up with the bat and India reached a fighting score of 154.

Inspite of helpful conditions, there was always the fear that the Indian bowlers would cock this up. They did not.

And the most heartening thing was that the guys displayed big game temperament. They sensed the ebbs and flows of the game better, they played the big moments better.

The fielding was electric, ditto the bowling.

But there was still Australia.

Its been 3 days since the Australia game and I have watched the match ( and its re runs) about a dozen times now and I still cannot fathom how India stared down Australia.

And now this.

19.3	Joginder Sharma to Misbah-ul-Haq, OUT, India! It's all over here! Full and on the stumps. Misbah goes for the scoop shot over short fine-leg. That is a risky shot to play with only 6 needed from 4 balls. Straight up in the air and Sreesanth takes the catch. India have won by 5 runs in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20
	Misbah-ul-Haq c Sreesanth b Joginder Sharma 43 (51m 38b 0x4 4x6) SR: 113.15
6 needed from 4 balls now
19.2	Joginder Sharma to Misbah-ul-Haq, SIX, full-toss outside the off, that's not the place to bowl at this time. Misbah is cool as ice, lines this up and pounds the ball straight back down the ground. This is a baseball style home run. Such incredible hitting under pressure. You have to give it to Misbah
12 from 5 needed

More thoughts on the game and India's performance later.. For now, its time for the bubbly !

I've paid my dues -
Time after time -
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime -
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face -
But I've come through

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls -
You brought me fame and fortuen and everything that goes with it
-
I thank you all -

But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise -
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race -
And I ain't gonna lose -

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

PS :- At the end of it all, somebody needs to teach the Indians how to dance.. They are horrid :).

Eerie

The parallels between October 2000 and September 2007

Then , it was a young team led by a young captain playing in a new tournament format in Africa.

Now, it is a young team led by a young captain playing in a new tournament format in Africa.

Then, India's last three games were against ( in order) Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. India beat Australia and South Africa and lost to New Zealand.

Now, India's last three games have been/are against ( in order) New Zealand, England and South Africa. India lost to New Zealand and beat England and South Africa. They play Australia next.

Then, it was the batting and fielding that caught the imagination of a country. Nothing much has changed now.

Then, it was Yuvraj Singh,his nerveless 84 against Australia and the Michael Bevan run out that launched a career. Is it Rohit Sharma's turn now?

Today...

Rahul Bhattacharya and Anand Vasu on the Dravid captaincy.

Australia intimidate opposition in big games, writes Steve Waugh

At any rate, an overdue return to times past Peter Roebuck

The Sharmas don’t know yet what they cannot do Harsha Bhogle

Borivali Boy becomes India’s Durban Hero Sandeep Dwivedi

Lalchand too has much at stake LOKENDRA PRATAP SAHI

Cricket's most intriguing game is about to play out in court Alex Brown

and finally

Yuvraj Singh - You have been warned.:)

SCG McGill

First Test - Faisalabad

First Innings - 4-0-26-0
Second Innings 40-14-81-3

Second Test - Lahore

First Innings ( in progress) 14-2-68-1

Not very flattering numbers for Australia's premier spin bowler post Warne. And it will be interesting to see how he shapes up for the remainder of this "Test" as the next game he will play will probably be the Test against Sri Lanka in early November.

His form, or lack of, will have a bearing on the types of wickets we can expect when we tour Down Under later this year.

Paradigm shift!

Three high jinx thrillers, all with India emerging on top, may have just been the tonic to kick start the Twenty20 revolution in India.

While not all Indians would be converts, the spectacle of Twenty20 cricket with all its big hitting and more importantly - India winning, will have generate a sufficiently large audience for this, the newest format of the game.

And make the BCCI its newest converts and possibly its most ardent devotees.

Which will go a long way in ensuring the health of Twenty20 cricket for some time to come.
--
The one factor that was on display in all of the games was the element of fearlessness in the approach to batting. Because of the truncated format of the game, batsmen have to swing for the rafters from ball one. And wickets in hand is no longer key; rather, it was the runs on board that matter more.

It is this fearlessness that I think will have the most impact on the other two forms of the game.

The Sri Lankan experiment of going hammer and tongs in the first 15 overs of an ODI opened the game to the possibility of pinch hitters and big shots and slower balls and low full tosses. And once cricketers changed their approach, and their thinking, it had a direct bearing on Test cricket.

What Twenty20 will do, or I hope it will, is take away the number of overs in Fifty50 cricket from the equation. Teams will be more concerned with runs on the board, irrespective of the number of overs it takes - if a team targets 350 as a score to reach in the first innings, they will throw their bats around to get to that target irrespective of the fact that they would have collectively lasted 45 overs instead of the full 50.

The old mantra of take the score at the end of 30 overs and double it may soon be replaced by score as much as possible in the power plays and then look to double it in the remaining 30 overs. What this will mean is that the "slow" phase of the game ( between overs 21 thru 40) will get shorter and shorter with time.

Power hitting will become the norm but conversely containment will go out of the window. I do not believe teams will play to contain the opposition on the field. Rather, it will be wickets that will matter more and this will be reflected in bowling and fielding strategies.

The one other thing that may change, and this depends on how deeply entrenched Twenty 20 gets, will be the emphasis on specialists. With "options" and "depth" becoming bywords in the shortest version of the game , I wont be too surprised to see teams fielding ( or emphasizing on ) players with more than one string in their bow as the norm.

Same Old Story

Its a multi lateral tourney + its in South Africa + a crucial game involving South Africa + there is a lot of math involved = same old story

remember THIS

We'll be Singhing

when we are winning

RP Singh 4-0-13-4 in the win against South Africa

Yuvraj Singh 58 runs in 16 balls in the win against England

and he is a Mumbaikar!

A 50 on debut with a stance reminiscent of the Colonel, you made the city proud Rohit Sharma!

Today..

Is it for real? Is it really happening or is it just a dream after watching non-stop Twenty20 for nearly a week? The ball flying to all parts of the ground. The hapless bowler burying his face in his hands and the batsman raising his bat and pumping the air.
--
Some would say it’s life, it happens. Others would say its cricket and it doesn’t happen often. It has happened just once in international cricket and twice in first class cricket before Kingsmead.
--
Talented, quick, accurate and perpetually injured — that’s Munaf Patel’s story for you in a nutshell. But does anyone know why?
--
The man who mostly plays with a straight bat has left everyone stunned with his decision to relinquish the India captaincy after a largely successful campaign in England. The decision, it is understood, was not impulsive. Rahul Dravid had burnt midnight oil before making an announcement that has left much of the cricketing world shocked.
--
Knowing India’s great love for cricket, the main topic of discussions in clubs, bazaars and villages is bound to be, ‘Can we beat the Aussies?’ Obviously, India’s great effort in England will have given their supporters great hope, but the answer to the above question is fairly simple — yes, India can beat the Aussies, provided their bowlers can take 20 wickets in a match
--
It is time the BCCI pulled its weight with the ICC to bring about specific changes in the law that would yield the decision against a batsman almost wholly to technology, aided of course to an extent by the human perception, writes R. K. Raghavan.
--
DHARAMSHALA: With a calculated assault, South Africa ‘A’ pulled India ‘A’ out of its comfort zone in quick time and walked away with the opening day’s honours of the second ‘Test’ at the HPCA Stadium here on Wednesday.
--
A captain feels he is under probation when his tenure is defined so precisely, writes Steve Waugh
--
Durban: The Australian cricket team Wednesday received a major jolt with captain Ricky Ponting being ruled out for the rest of the ICC World Twenty20 due to injury which also rendered him doubtful for the tour of India.
--
England were out of the ICC World Twenty20 last night by the time Stuart Broad became only the fourth bowler in senior cricket to concede six sixes in an over. Yuvraj Singh, bristling from an exchange with Andrew Flintoff, mocked boundaries as short as 56 metres with timing and power.
--
Allan Donald is considering taking a drop in wages to give up his job as England's fast-bowling consultant and rejoin Warwickshire as their first-team coach.
--
India require full-time coach Graeme Smith, Special to Gulf News
--
What price the Indian captaincy, indeed? Is it worth being constantly under scrutiny, every move dissected, every call discussed threadbare, every decision debated upon, every act questioned?
--
Whatever the outcome of the next week's cricket in South Africa, Paul Collingwood will hope that it does not detract from the tremendous strides made by his one-day side. I say "his" because, as with most good captains, the team have taken on many of the captain's traits. They hustle and harass opponents and make the most of their gifts – something Collingwood has always tried and often succeeded to do since he first pulled on an England jersey.
--
CHENNAI : Former Aussie leg spinner Terry Jenner is impressed by India's upcoming leggie Piyush Chawla but is of the opinion that the young Uttar Pradesh tweaker must be playing more of Test cricket first.
--
In school, they used to call Mahendra Singh Dhoni ‘Sachin Tendulkar’. It was the fully appropriate name for a friendly easy-going schoolboy who seemed instantly possessed by some particularly destructive god of war every time he walked out to bat. And today, his mates from DAV School Shyamali and the Shyamali Mecon colony in Ranchi must be marvelling at the fact that ‘their Tendulkar’ is going to captain a team that has the real Tendulkar in it. Yes, this is surely worthy of celebration.
--
There will be a new driver in my bag when I take to the links of north Norfolk next week. I bought it on Tuesday after extensive trials saw balls disappear as once did the dot on my gran's telly when she turned it off. This club is cutting edge apparently, looks like a mini George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine and makes a noise on impact that would do as sound effect for Jerry belting Tom with a frying pan. Having parted with money for the club, it will, of course, now send the ball every which way, a trait most golfers will recognise.
--
To watch the All Blacks is akin to sitting amidst the hollering hordes as Brazil plays football, or being in home-run distance of the New York Yankees, or watching Tendulkar do his tiptoe routine while hitting a straight drive, writes Rohit Brijnath.

Payback

Unsurprisingly, that's also the fastest Twenty20 fifty - it came up from 12 balls. Three fours, six sixes.
18.6	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, and he has, Yuvraj leans back and smacks that over wide mid-on ... it was the maximum from the moment it left that bat and the crowd were roaring as it flew
Broad looks like a man who knows he is about to be mauled again ...
Broad looks quizzical ... and miserable. Can he ... can Yuvraj do it ...
18.5	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, down on one knee and larruped over midwicket, that one was more nine iron, it went into the night sky and dropped with a thud in the jubilant crowd ...
England have a team meeting. Shuffling deckchairs on the Jolly Roger though ...
18.4	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, Shiver me timbers!: Broad goes round the wicket, bowls a filthy wide full toss and Yuvraj steers it over backward point and it clears the rope again
18.3	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, he's hitting them everywhere, he steps to leg and smashes the ball over extra cover and it keeps on travelling ... the fireworks start on top of the scoreboard ... they've been going off in the middle for some time
18.2	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, now that really is sweet, no more than a dismissive flick off his legs, swatting a fly, and the ball arcs deep into the crowd beyond backward square leg
The dodgy TV measurement says that's 111 yards ... but as it landed outside the ground how the whatsists do they know? They guess, that's how.
18.1	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, that's out the ground, super shot over cow corner and it just kept going up

19th over: India 207-3 (Dhoni 7, Yuvraj Singh 50) Yuvraj Singh had to be restrained by umpire Doctrove from getting involved in some verbals with Flintoff at the end of the last over and decides to take out his ever-present anger on Broad instead, absolutely CLATTERING his first ball over backward square for six. Incredible. And the next ball disappears for six as well, this time courtesy of a pick-up/sweep. The camera pans on to Flintoff, who - truth be told - looks a little sheepish. And then Yuvraj lifts Broad's third ball over extra cover for six more! Three in three! And it's four in four as Broad serves up a full-toss that is spanked over backward point. FOUR IN FOUR! And now it's FIVE OUT OF FIVE, this time with an almighty slog-sweep. Stunning stuff! Yuvraj was hit for five sixes in five balls by Mascarenhas at The Oval recently. Now he's taking revenge. And he's done it! SIX SIXES IN AN OVER with a mow over long-on. Quite staggering! And that's his fifty off 12 balls! "Has no one else noticed England are obviously saving themselves for the First official Twenty20 World Cup in 2009?" says Ben Osguthorpe.

20th over: India 218-4 (Dhoni 10) That was some of the cleanest hitting you will ever see/read about. Did Freddie wind him up at the end of the previous over? Possibly. But who cares? That was The Oval-plus-interest, and now he carves Flintoff over extra cover for six. He really is one of the most talented players in world cricket. But there the fun ends as he picks out long-on: WICKET! Yuvraj Singh c Collingwood b Flintoff 58 (216-4) OFF 16 BALLS! Quite brilliant stuff and England are, surely, stuffed.

Today...

The India A squad for the 3 ODI set against South Africa A

Mohd Kaif (capt), Parthiv Patel (vice capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Karan Goel, Manoj Tiwary, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Praveen Kumar, Praghyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Yo Mahesh, Pankaj Singh, Arjun Yadav, Abhishek Nayar, Anirudh Srikkanth.
---
Says Rajesh Varma, now secretary of Jharkhand Cricket Association, “He has never captained a team ever except for a district side once in 1996-97. But he’s not afraid if he’s given responsibility. The fact that he could call on Robin Uttappa when India were involved in a bowl-out with Pakistan says a lot about the trust he places in his teammates,” says Varma.
---
Dravid was not a great captain, but with more support, he could have been better, writes Rohit Brijnath
---
Nobody will go on record, but a lack of support from key Board of Control for Cricket in India officials — absolutely necessary for the captaincy — scuppered Sourav Ganguly’s chances of leading again, this time in the upcoming ODIs.
---
Does the choice of India’s new captain for the oneday series against Australia and Pakistan mean anything beyond cricket?
---
When Rahul Dravid, surprisingly, announced that he wasn’t keen to captain India anymore on September 14, the selectors had just 15 days to find a suitable replacement before the start of the seven-match ODI series against world champions Australia.
---

Sanjay Manjrekar

makes a valid point

A final word on the rotation policy that the Chairman of Selectors hinted at; that senior players could be rested. I am not sure that this is such a great decision considering the stage that the senior players are at in their careers. It might have made sense three to four years ago but these are players who have played close to 400 one-day internationals. Is it fair now, to keep expecting them to be there for India for the next two to three years; instead should they just play out whatever is left of their careers in one go and let the youth take over once and for all. The problem with this policy is that the youngsters who get a chance to play once the seniors are rested never feel that they are there for the long haul; theirs is more a makeshift selection and for the crunch games they know that the seniors will be back. Youth can never grow in such an environment and this policy has to be viewed with a bit of scepticism.

and then

I just wish Dhoni's appointment had been for a longer time. I don't understand the logic of giving him the captaincy for just two series. I think the one-day captaincy should have been offered for a year or two, just to show that the selectors commitment towards Dhoni. The Test match captaincy hasn't been announced but I feel that if Dhoni has a good series against Australia and Pakistan he might be offered the Test captaincy too and maybe that's the reason why he has been made e short-term captain.

Question is, forget all the arguments about the workload that comes with being captain, wicketkeeper and batsman in the longer format of the game;is Mahendra Singh Dhoni the best wicketkeeper in the country and its the best bet at #6 or 7?

Does Mahendra Singh Dhoni deserve an automatic place in the national Test team?

I'm all confused

The Indian team for the ODI series against Australia has been announced. Rather, the team for the first three ODIs has been announced.

India one-day squad
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt) ,Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh

That is not what is confusing me.

The schedule for the ODI series reads as follows

1st ODI: India v Australia at Bangalore - Sep 29, 2007 Match scheduled to begin at 14:30 local time (09:00 GMT)

2nd ODI: India v Australia at Kochi - Oct 2, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

3rd ODI: India v Australia at Hyderabad (Decc) - Oct 5, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

4th ODI: India v Australia at Chandigarh - Oct 8, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

5th ODI: India v Australia at Vadodara - Oct 11, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

That too does not confuse me.

What confuses me is the fact that the Irani Trophy was pushed back because it overlapped the South Africa "A" tour. And is now scheduled to begin on the 6th of October.

Which is right after the 3rd ODI.

It is going to be an interesting (confusing) team selection for the remaining 4 ODIs/Irani Trophy.

I wonder what gives?

Why Rahul Dravid stepped down

Haresh Pandya knows the answer.... Its those pesky Maharashtrians!

Wheels within Wheels

Sachin Tendulkar has ostensibly been sounded out for the post of India captain. MS Dhoni is the current India Twenty20 captain. Yuvraj Singh is his deputy. Virender Sehwag is an ex-India captain. As is Saurav Ganguly.And Rahul Dravid. Md.Kaif is current India "A" captain. Anil Kumble has never been captain. Ditto VVS Laxman.

With the captaincy debate in full swing on the pages of this blog and elsewhere, here are my two cents -

1. Is the captain going to be appointed on a series by series basis or will he be tenured for a fixed period ( say 2 years)?

Imagine the situation wherein SRT is asked to lead the team on a series by series basis - would SRT commit to something that basically covers the BCCI's backside for the short term given the treatment meted out to him by the BCCI after the World Cup? Ditto SCG. And what about Anil Kumble or VVS Laxman - step children who never got their due?

Imagine a situation too where the selectors are amenable to a fixed term for the captain. What will be the length of that term?

If it is a year, what after that? Does India want to play with a team full of ex captains post that period?

Is 2 years ideal? The last time we had a captain for 2 years, the team was just about getting molded in his image when the tenure ended. Is that what we want? One captain up to the Champions Trophy in 2009 and another till the end of the World Cup? And wont 4 years be much too much for any captain, given the grind that is India's cricket.

And if it is 3 years, what then? Sharad Pawar relinquishes the BCCI presidency to take over as ICC President. The current selection committee's tenure expires in another 2 odd years. Shashank Manohar is set to take over as BCCI President, no one knows what the composition of the new selection committee will be..What are the guarantees that the new set up will honor the commitments made by the previous dispensation?

What are the terms and conditions under which SRT or SCG or anyone else takes over the captaincy and how amenable will the BCCI be to these?

And if someone younger is appointed captain, how much heartburn will it cause - within the team and the country?

2. Are we looking at splitting the Test and ODI captaincy or are we looking at one captain to lead both the sides?

Sachin Tendulkar has gone on record to state that ODI's take a huge toll on his body and that there is not enough recovery time between games.

Imagine a situation wherein SRT is appointed India Test captain and Mahendra Singh Dhoni the ODI captain. Imagine too that India is playing the Champions Trophy and Sachin has made himself available.

What will the selectors do? Do we want to have a situation wherein the Test captain reports to the ODI captain in ODIs and vice versa? And is that a healthy situation?

And if not, is the Lords ODI the last time we have seen SRT, SCG and RD in India ODI colors?

3. Where does the coach fit in?

India does not have a coach as yet. How do team dynamics change once the coach is appointed? Will the coach be pliant or authoritative? Will he be better served having a team full of young hopefuls with stars in their eyes or a team consisting of veterans who have been there and done that and managed wonderfully without a coach, thank you very much.

And how pliant or authoritative must the captain be, given the new coach?

And finally, how does the ICL/PCL fit in into the whole debate? If the money is better there and the set up is more professional ( franchises remember), how does that alter the captaincy debate? Will people, disillusioned or disheartened, jump ?

Plenty to think about for our "honorary" selectors.