Why is Jadeja in the Indian team?

If Dhoni doesn't believe that Jadeja can last the final few overs of close run-chase, and that too in the company of Sachin Tendulkar who is already on 150+, and sends Harbhajan in ahead of him, then why on earth is Ravindra Jadeja in the team? Surely Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan or Virat Kohli could do much better. Or is it necessary to have a so called all-rounder in the team just to maintain "balance"? In that case compare Jadeja's performance with his Aussie counterpart - Watson scored 93 and took 3 wickets. Out of the two teams out there, in the morning one of them was struggling to find eleven fit cricketers who are good enough to play international cricket. Unfortunately, it seems like that was the Indian team and not the Aussies.

Heh. See this.

A question to the blogspot team

When was the last time anybody labelled his post as 'scooters'?

Dravid dropped

It must be said that the recent selection committees of the BCCI have been much better than those of yore - when settling personal grudges and putting the cricketers in their place seemed to be of a higher priority than selecting the best possible squad. However, the committee still manages, from time to time, to make a selection (or non-selection that just defies all logic).

I was greatly bemused by Sourav Ganguly's omission from the ODI team some time ago. I guess the same can be said about the Rahul Dravid saga. Firstly, I was greatly surprised when he was picked. The BCCI seemed to be following a 'young blood please' policy when it came to selection for the ODI team. It seemed to make sense, keeping the 2011 World Cup in mind. And Dravid was widely considered by many to be beyond his prime, especially in ODIs. Yet, they decided to pick Dravid for an extremely meaningless tri-series in Sri Lanka and the subsequent (more meaningless?) Champions Trophy.

And Dravid managed to turn in solid performances in both the tournaments. He played a vital innings (despite playing as an opener) in the final against Sri Lanka an also played well against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy. Despite all of this, he has been dropped. And Virat Kohli has been retained. The same Virat Kohli whose only major contribution has been a slow, laboured half-century against a greatly depleted West Indies attack. The only plausible explanation could be that the selectors wanted someboy with a good technique to play in South Africa and now just want someone who can hit the ball hard since the series is in India. But in any case, it is extremely unfair to both Dravid and the youngsters who have been picked ahead of him. I guess it's about time Indian Selectors started having more faith in the players and also some respect for them. Dravid has been a loyal servant of Indian Cricket and such treatment does not befit him.

Filmon ke is 'Vishal' desh mein, Kaminey 'Gulzar'

fuperb, fublime, fpectacular, ftaggering, ftunning, ftately, furpaffing, fenfational, fomething elfe, ftartling, ftrange, fupreme, fumptuouf, fplendid, fwank, fpotleff, fpirited, fmart, fnazzy, fwell, fuperior, fterling, fplendorouf.

fort mein : fau prateefat paifa vafool!

Obeisance to The Great One

It's that time of the month when I start singing praises of The Great One and give my monthly obeisance to Him. Now I am not someone who would ever need to read Shane Warne's profile, since it would not contain anything new. But this Cricinfo profile written by Christian Ryan makes for a very good read. He crisply summarises a brilliant career about which volumes of text has already been written. And it was written much before Warne guided the Royals to a famous victory in the inuagural IPL.

My favourite part comes towards the end when he claims that the world never fully appreciated Warne's genius and that his legacy shall grow with the passage of time, much like Bradman's. And I completely agree with him on this one, we always have a habit of revering the old heroes but somehow fail to treat modern day legends fairly. Warne is 100% certified legendary material and maybe fifty years on, the world shall truly realise his genius and place him on par with Bradman as the greatest aussie cricketer of all time.

Go Pommie Go !

I have been a great fan of the Australian Cricket team for a long team. I firmly believe that they are in a major way responsible for the revival of aggressive test cricket, scoring at more than 4 runs per over regularly. But the Aussie team that I lovingly cheered was the one which had a supreme warrior, a stylish and free-scoring batsman, a butchering wicket-keeper batsman, a miserly fast bowler and of course, a legendary blonde tweaker. The current aussie line-up not only lacks such all-time greats but also seems to lack the aussie fighting spirit as shown by their recent grumbling during the ashes.

Hence, throughout this ashes series I have been supporting the English, hoping for an upset victory. And today, that victory is only 10 wickets away. So for one last time, Go Pommie Go!

While reading today's ToI, I came across the following headline:

Windies salvage some pride against Bangladesh

If someone who had lapsed into coma a year or so ago was to suddenly come back to life again, he would have definitely thought that the publishers had inadvertently jumbled up the names of the two teams involved. How I wish that were true. I am not against Bangladeshi cricket, but seeing the decline and fall of a team which was once the most dreaded in the world makes me feel very sad indeed. I sincerely hope that West Indies cricket regains some of it's lost glory and returns to it's world beating ways soon.

This interview of Andy Atkinson, the ICC's pitches manager, makes for a very interesting read. Not only is it a good analysis of what role the pitch should play in Cricket, it also sheds some lights on one of the most forgotten and hidden arts in Cricket - the art of pitch making.