This Week In Cricket (03/01/2011 - 09/01/2011)

Ashes 2011


England achieved emphatic series win in Sydney. it is easy to say that the Aussies are on decline but to beat them so comprehensively at home suggests the quality and superiority of this English setup. For me the highlight has been skillfulness, consistency and depth of their bowling. Cook had a dream series and helped England pile up big totals consistently. Paul Collingwood made the right decision to go before being pushed because this English setup under Andy Flower is very result oriented (remember leaving out Anderson from T20 world cup playing 11).


India- SA Test Series

India missed a golden opportunity to win their first series in SA, but if somebody has offered a drawn series before it started or after the first test, it would have been gladly accepted. India's ineffective attack hurts most and will not allow them to covert the good positions into victories. Steyn's bowling was extraordinary and treat to watch; I have never seen Tendulkar getting beaten so many times in an Innings and required lot of luck to survive in the first innings. Pujara did reasonably well and should his keep his place and Sreesanth's was at his best and troubled all SA lineup time and again.

IPL 2011 Auction

One word, absurd!!. There was huge clamour for India capped players as if they were extinct species. There is no other reason to explain how Umesh Yadav and Abhishek Nayyar can get more than $700K. IMO, best buy was Andrew Symonds for around 450K by MI. MI and CSK have done good business and have shown that they are way ahead of other teams in terms of planning and execution. KKR seemed to be in panic mode and splashed too much on Gambhir and Yusuf, but seemed to be getting the core of the team right with Kallis and Shakib purchases later.

Gayle not being sold is inexplicable as his game is made for T20 and has proven tack record.