Should Kumble play?

Anil Kumble will in all probablilty play in Delhi. And Mishra or Laxman will be the unfortunate person to sit out.

The main reason why the Aussies found the Indian bowling difficult in Mohali was because of the manner in which the Indian bowlers kept coming at the Aussies relentlessly. When the fast bowlers became tired, Mishra came on to maintain a stranglehold on the Aussies. But with Kumble's presence, the same pressure on the Aussies wont be there. This will let them off the hook. One of the reasons why the Aussies lost the Ashes 2005 was because of the quality of the England seam bowlers who kept coming relentlessly at them. I think we have a similar situation here. Our bowlng attack in Mohali looked the best it has been in a long long time. We have the Aussies on the mat. Why should we give them an opportunity to get back on their feet?

Kumble might be playing at his favourite ground, but that doesnt imply he will get a handful of wickets if he turns up to bowl there. I hope playing Kumble in the 11 does not cost the Indians too dearly.

Infuriating LS

Is it just me or does others think L.Sivaramakrishnan is a total jerk? I get the feeling he apes Harsha Bhogle like no ape has ever aped before....
His infuriating voice and tendency to sensationalize even the dullest period of play with his take on happenings makes me want to press the mute button on the remote and flush the remote down the toilet. Hearing him spout drivel, more drivel and nonsense over after over makes me want to regurgitate my food.
For the love of God, cut out the frills and give us pure, unadulterated commentary, commentary which reinforces the belief that what we are witnessing is indeed a simple contest between bat and ball, and not a Shakespearian drama.
And in case you dont realize, a few moments of silence in air time is ok. You dont have to keep blabbering your take on the game, you dont have to give us your pearls of wisdom on the state of the game.
I am wondering, does sitting in your vantage point in the commentator's box give you a whole new understanding of the game?
Please do us all a big favour and commentate on the game and game only. Dont let out any other brain farts you might get while commentating. Because it stinks big time.

Thoughts after the first test

It feels strange to blog after so many days. So much cricket has been played since I last blogged. India played Australia in Bangalore and managed to draw the test. It was heralded as nothing short of a victory in the print media. But according to me, Australia walked away with more positives in this match. The Indian spin department desperately needs to re-discover the art of taking wickets. If the duo of Harbhajan and Kumble cannot get wickets, they can atleast bowl fewer overs, cant they? Every time the pressure was on the Aussie batsmen, the spinners did their best to take it off. Kumble was a liability in the first test. And I dont see things improving for him in the next three either. Not even in Delhi, his favourite hunting ground. Why? I dont have a logical reason as to why I think Kumble will fail. Just take this as the words of a fan who has hoped time and again for our oldies to perform, and is still waiting, but no longer hopeful. Same story with Harbhajan's bowling. He did manage to outdo Kumble in the wickets department, but was hardly inspiring. His batting was a bonus, though. Helped India get closer to the Aussie total in the first innings. The draw was possible because of his knock, no denying that. Zaheer and Ishant were brilliant. That was the only positive for India in this test.

Coming to the batting, Australia had two centurions. India had none. They had three scores of 50 plus, two of which was from no. 8 and no. 9. That surely tells a tale.

The fab four and the dynamic duo of Harbhajan and Kumble fell way short of all their hype in this test. If only hype translates into performance....

The second test starts in a couple of days time. And I get the feeling that even if we lose this test, a certain individual's record breaking feat will hog the limelight, and the defeat itself will not matter.

Hate to sound like a pessimist here, but the enthusiasm for certain over-rated bunch of players is long gone.

Things to be done if the team has to redeem itself

The first match of the ODI series was like a sequel to the test series. India was totally dominated by Srilanka, and never once did they look like gaining control over proceedings. Perhaps India can learn a thing or two about turning the screws on here. How often has India been in a such a position, only to squander it in the middle overs by poor bowling and poor fielding? Yesterday the lankans were relentless.

This could be an ideal opportunity for some of the youngsters to prove that they indeed deserve a place in this side at the expense of the seniors. They have 4 more matches to showcase their skills. But if Dhoni persists with yesterday's batting lineup, it is likely that the result will be similar to the first ODI. I am talking only about the batting lineup here, more specifically about 3 players :

Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh.

Kohli is not cut out to open the innings. And the way he scratched around yesterday, it looks as if he needs to play a fair amount of competetive cricket before turning out for India.
Should be replaced by : Sehwag.

Suresh Raina seems to have all the shots, and is touted to be a player to watch out for. He got a lot of runs in Pakistan recently on dead batting wickets and ordinary bowlers. But unless he develops a tight game, he will always remain someone who will be susceptible to bowlers who think can think him out. I get the feeling he tries to play too many shots, and has to curb his instinct a bit.
Should be replaced by : Badrinath.

Yuvraj Singh is India's most experienced player in this lineup. But his struggle against quality spin bowling is enough to ensure he wont get more than a handful of runs this series. With M and M licking their fingers at the sight of Yuvraj, his confidence will also take a beating if he fails repeatedly, like it happened in Australia. Here is where I feel someone like Yusuf Pathan will come in handly, and can even replace Yuvraj. He can thump the ball as hard as Yuvraj, and can prove handy with the ball as well. He is not picked in this squad for the current series, but India should seriously consider him as an option. Indeed, he could be the David Hussey for India.
Can be replaced by : Yusuf Pathan

It looks as if Sehwag is ruled out of this series. And Yusuf Pathan is not picked for this series. So, by tweaking around a bit with the batting order, get Yuvraj to open the batting with Gambhir. By getting some quick runs initially, he might be in a better frame of mind to face the spinners. Replace Raina with Badri. Badri could lend the much needed solidarity to the middle order. Kohli and Raina miss out. This is a solution for the current series, and the way I see it, it could be the only way India can compete in this series.

Injury to the rescue

So Tendulkar has been ruled out for another ODI series. This brings forth two different points of view.

1. From the point of view of the 'great' SRT's legions of admirers :

• His injury leaves a void that is irreplacable.
• Now, India will miss a player, who proves invaluable to the team, just by virtue of his being in the team. Never mind the fact that he isnt scoring runs.
• He will come back as a better batsman, keen and hungry to break records (not keen and hungry to make runs for the team's cause, mind you) as usual.
• And ofcourse, his injury is the reason that he didnt have a good run in the recently concluded test series. If he had been fit, M&M would have been taken to the cleaners, blah blah blah.

2. From the point of view of the other small category of people who dont think he is God :

• Hoorayyyyy!!!! (need I say more? I guess I should, for argument's sake).
• At last some deserving player gets a chance to showcase his skills (until God returns, ofcourse). In this case, the lucky guy who gets in is Badri, who should have been in the team long ago.
• No longer do we have to listen to tripe about how the 'master blaster' scored a glorious boundary or a painstaking century (commentary on various sport channels).

No prizes for guessing on whose side I am on.

Looking forward to test cricket

After a spate of ODIs and T20s, it is back to good old test cricket. And I am glad. There has definitely been an overkill of the shorter versions of the game, and we havent been witness to any riveting contests. I hope the series against Srilanka brings out some entertaining contest between bat and ball.

Ricky Ponting, for once is right in pitching for a test championship.