This Week In cricket(11/10/2008 - 18/10/2008 )

Excuse me for not posting this week in cricket for last week.

India Australia first test match

This was a good test match with gripping action till last day. Pitch was slow and did not permit fast scoring. I watched the action live in stadium on Saturday (3rd day). India batted poorly after a good start. It was fascinating to watch Ponting set different fields for different batsmen. They almost has sweeper cover stationed for all the batsmen to reduce the number of boundaries. This ploy was to a good effect by Australia during last series. Over all, India did well to salvage a draw. Ponting put to rest his doubts about his ability in these conditions with a fine century. I think India would have won the match if we had batted first considering the amount of spin available during later half of the match.

Ganguly is retiring
It was coming; it was unfortunate he was not picked for Irani trophy match. Ganguly added a different dimension to Indian cricket when he took over captaincy from Sachin in 2000. He was one of India's smart one day batsmen; he took aerial route to a good effect. After watching him field and run between wickets during Bangalore test I feel that he has made the right decision; his batting might have been still fine for one more year but his fitness levels are going down rapidly.

India Australia second test match
Dhoni won a good toss; won winning toss is like winning half the match in our conditions. Amit Mishra came in for Kumble, I sincerely hope that we not pay for choosing him over Chawla as backup spin option. Match is well balanced at end of day 1. We would have been in good position if Tendulakar was still at the crease.

This Week in Cricket (28/9/2008 - 5/10/2008)

Indian Team for first two tests

Even though selection panel and its working process were changed, team is on expected lines except for the side kicks and Ganguly. Only beneficiary seems to be Badrinath in the place of Rohit Sharma; looks like extra batsmen is selection committee chairman's pick;). Having said that, Badri deserves his place on merit alone; he has one of the top averages in Indian domestic cricket. Not sure what special Amith Sharma has done recently to pip Chawla and Ojha for third spinner's position.

Bringing back Ganguly holds no logic after he was dropped from the team for Irani trophy. This shows lack of understanding between different selection panels.

India - Australia test series

This is India's best chance to defeat Australia if batting clicks and right pitches (spinner friendly) are provided. Australian batting looks little shaky and bowling is heavily dependent on pace. It will be foolish if pitches have any resemblance of grass. Series against Australia is not the time to provide sporting pitches for game's development; India never gets batting wickets when we play at Perth or Durban.

Indian 11 for the first test looks well settled with 6 batsmen,4 bowlers ( Zaheer, Ishant, Kumble, and Harbhajan). Australia on the other hand will have to think whether it makes sense to play spinner for the sake of variety.

Australia Vs Board President's XI

Highlight was RIcky Ponting' struggle against Chawla. Rohit Shrama and Virat Kohli batted with lot of confidence and got deserving centuries in first innings. I was surprised to see that, this was Rohit Sharma's second first class century; some of the youngsters like him and Kohli have got thier chances very early; it is up to them now to justify their fast tracking to big league. I almost forgot: Yuvraj scored a century in second innings; as things stand now, Badrinath and Rohit Sharma are ahead of Yuvarj in the race for extra batsman's in the test team.