This Week In Cricket (24/1/2011 - 30/1/2011)

Australia - England One Day Series

For the audience's and organizer's(mainly) sake, England won the last match to keep the series alive but tough to keep the interest levels high in a 7 match series in this fast paced world. England have some injuries that could prove beneficial in the world cup preparations. Flower and co must be relieved after Prior's knock in the 4th match else their pragmatic decision would have looked like utter foolish; this is the kind of fine line between good and bad decision in sports.

World Cup Thoughts
1. India and SA seem to be front runners at this point of time considering the kind of batting and all round fire power they posses respectively.
2. It might actually come down to teams with match winning bowlers with pitches favoring batsmen and this is where Australia have a chance with Lee and Tait with their express pace and swing.
3. Bangladesh will be the team to watch with conditions favouring them.
4. Batting second will be an advantage with due problem in the evening but interestingly this could balance out the ever present batting first advantage in cricket.

finally..
World cup could be an opportunity for players to impress some of the IPL franchises; this is true if you follow football and have noticed how players use FIFA world cup as launch pad for their professional careers.

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.

This Week in Cricket (27/12/2010 - 2/1/2011)

Ashes 2010
England played fantastic cricket to retain the Ashes. Trott played an excellent innings and discipline of English bowling has been excellent too. I am big fan of Andrew flower and his performance as coach so far has be very impressive. Ricky ponting is really having a bad series and might struggle catch up with Tendulkar's records from here on. Steve Smith looks not ready to be number 6 and does not bowl enough to bat lower than that.

India - SA Series

Excellent win for India. Indian team has struggled more in SA compared to Australia; this fact along with Durban being the venue (remember the 1996 test match) makes it extra special. VVS was again excellent and deserved hundred for his efforts. Not having URDS for this series is a shame as some of the decisions in SA's 2nd innings were debatable and this takes shine out of victory to a certain extent. Not sure why Indian team does not want it as not having it could cost them a test match sometime in near future. Zaheer's bowling to Paul Harris round the wicket was treat to watch and Pujara has handled the short stuff decently so far and should be persisted at number 6.

I am in Singapore

I have been in Singapore for last 3 weeks and here some of my observations about this city:

1. City is very clean and amazing the way it is maintained considering the population density here.

2. The public transport system works like dream. Most of the buses have 15 minutes frequency and there are mobile applications that provide decently accurate status of buses.

3. In spite of so many people around it is still not noisy because people hardly talk to others in trains or buses.

4. There are places to eat everywhere around (less vegetarian options)

5. Government offices rival corporate offices in terms of infrastructure and operations.

6. There is lot of greenery around even though there is huge space crunch in the city.

7. For Singaporeans, any commute more than 30 minutes is far.

8. There are community sports complexes that offer activities like basketball, badminton, table tennis etc and the courts can be booked on hourly basis. Needless to say this system also works effectively. You find people playing even till 11 PM. I have played more badminton and cricket under lights in these 3 weeks than ever.

9. Rents are super expensive and are tough to find with lot of demand.

10. Traffic gets heavier during morning and evening times but rules are followed and hardly anybody honks.

Why football world cup more is more interesting and highly valued than ICC cricket world cup

1. FIFA has not changed tournament format like ICC for a long time now. The traditional nature makes the tournament more respected.
2. they don’t tinker the tournament to make sure that they have more matches between better teams (super 6 concept).
3. They don’t change the match timings to suit certain audience segment (early day matches in recent T20 world cup for Indian audience)
4. There are more competitive matches in group stage in football unlike in cricket.

This Week In Cricket - 30/5 - 6/6

Zimbabwe Tri series

India's consecutive defeats against Zimbabwe clearly shows the lack of bench strength; compare this against Australian A team and we will know which team will be consistently successful in international cricket. Lack of options in pace bowling department is alarming and needs to be addressed immediately; whether BCCI has time and interest in this amidst IPL fiasco is another matter altogether. The way Zimbabweans chased in the second game shows that after a long interval their cricket is moving in the right direction. Srilanka seems to have found another good wicketkeeper batsmen in Chandimal.

SA-WI series

Like winning, loosing is also a habit (bad one) and WI seems to have the knack of loosing even the games when they were in decent positions. Hashim Amla has been a revelation in this series and definitely will be a great asset to SA in the upcoming world cup in sub continent. AB donning wicket keeping gloves seems to be a hasty move as he is equally valuable as fielder too; he is a case of 'really' being blessed with cricketing talent.

England - Bangladesh test series

England's warm up for the Ashes is going according to plan except for their bowling when the Sun is out; Finn has been a good addition to their lineup and has the potential to play Harmison's role. I have always been a big Andy Flower fan and so far he has displayed same calculated and practical approach he used to show in his batting. He has made some bold decisions in the last few months like getting Keiswetter and Lumb into T20 team and Morgan into test team; most of them have come off well. I have also noticed that England coaches seem to have far more power and say in selection matters compared to other countries and this allows them to plan and work towards according to a plan; can you imagine Gary Kirsten getting that kind of backing from BCCI.

Things I have noticed in IPL so far -11/4/2010

1. More players are discovering that hitting sixes is not as much as a fight as it used to be ex: Vijay, Dravid. Specially Dravid's one of sixes stood due to the way he kept his balance and shape while hitting over long off. Staying still and keeping shape is key to connecting more often that not; this is easier said than done. Symonds is a prime example of this; he can just extend a bit at the last moment and send the ball soaring over the boundary instead of driving to to long off.

2. Teams are not going hammer and tongue in first couple of overs like last couple of years; they have realized that 20 over batting is also about analyzing conditions and then build on it.

3. Only perfect yorkers are effective else slow or normal bouncers are better.

4. Teams have realized the importance of giving opportunities to domestic players as it provides lot of flexibility to rotate the foreign players based on requirements If they succeed.

5. Pure (read good in wicket keeping only) wicket keepers are not required anymore; One who comes closest is Saha(KKR) but he just played for India as a specialist batsman.

6. Teams have realized to bench non performing Indian (international players) players irrespective their star value and money spent on them.

7. Competition for last 2 semifinal spots is a treat to follow and every match is starting to have a huge impact; this does not happen often in cricket tournaments frequently due to lack of quality among teams.

8. The excitement and surprise around sixers is going away; now we are excited by real big ones that clear the ground or hit the tier.

I am back.......

Lot of things have happened in my life since my last post. I have taken up a new job and relocated to Pune. Recently got internet connection at home here. I shall start writing about cricket and other things starting this week.

On cricket front, IPL was very exciting this time with little more options for bowlers due to favorable pitches . I shall post my review soon and also will start posting world T20 reviews in my weekly posts.

Best Photos from our year end vacation















Elephant ride in Sakrebylu training camp















Kshiti trying her hand at shuttle badminton; future Saina Nehwal at practice ;) (Eagle Eye resort Chikmagalur)
















kshiti enjoying Sun (Eagle Eye resort Chikmagalur)


















Kshiti inspecting the sorrundings

This Week In Cricket ( 4/1/2008 - 11/1/2008)

Australia - SA series

Australia won the last test match to stay at the top of the ICC ranking by winning the last test match. The scenes were similar to last year's Sydney test match with Australia winnig with few balls to spare. SA have to become more ruthless to replace Aussies at the top.

Overall this series proved test cricket is more entertaining than one day or 2o/20 is played between two evenly matched teams; it is pity that this was not a 5 match series. I am keenly awaiting the return series in SA.

This week in cricket (older - 23/12)

What a week for test cricket; we saw 2 among top 5 chases of all time recorded in last one week. It was pleasant to see SA give Aussies their own medicine by turning the match on hits head during the last 2 days. I was trying to find the reason for this phenomenon; here is the list I came up with.
1. More consistent and neutral umpiring.
2. Teams feel that runs are gettable mainly due to the confidence from chasing in ODIs.
3. Pitches have got better as there is immense pressure (TV rights) to prepare pitches that last 5 days.
4. 2 bouncers/over rule and protective gear that make ordinary batsmen become good/great players.


India - England test series
---------------------------
India lived up to their superior billing after some good performances from England in Chennai test match. Sehwag was the real difference as his inning made sure that none of the other batsmen came under any kind of pressure to score runs at a brisk pace. Another highlight is the bowling performances of Zaheer and Ishant that has resulted in fast bowlers getting man of the series awards in succession in Indian conditions. IMO, we should stop calling 2 match series as series as this hardly provides any chance for teams to come back.

This Week in Cricket ( week ending 28/12/2008)

AUS - SA test series - 2nd test

Awesome test series so far!; Duminy played one of the best test innings to turn the match on its head; he got good support from Steyn; SA seem to be winning all the key battles in this series so far; this is a clear indication that they might win the series. I am supporting them in this series.

I had vacation from 12/22 onwards; we had planned to spend 3 days at Eagle Eye Resorts and then proceed to Shimoga (my wife's home town) from there.


We started at around 5.30 AM; Bangalore-Hassan road was better than expected. We stopped for breakfast at Kamat hotel around 8.45 AM. food and ambiance were really good; their gesture of providing newspaper stood out. We crossed Belur around 10.15; road to Chikmagalur is narrow and not well maintained from there.

The resort is around 45 KMs from Chikmagalur; the road is adequate in certain patches but the route is too scenic to be concerned about the road. This was my first driving experience through hilly terrain and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The sound of birds and trees was magical; most of the villages along the way just have few houses near the road and rest in far off estates.

We reached the resort around 1 PM. The final stretch of the road is really bad; the resort staff were really helpful; the view from the top is awesome; food was fine. I thoroughly enjoyed the morning walks amidst the coffee plantation.

This was the first time we stayed outside with our daughter (1 year 9 months old); she was very co-operative and also seemed to enjoy the close proximity to flowers and fishing.

We took Balehonnur - N R Pura road towards Shimoga; the route was again pleasant with lot of trees around; in fact we started missing them as we got closer to Shimoga.

This Week In Cricket (7/12/2008 - 14/12/2008)

India - England test series

At the beginning nobody expected England team to be a in a position to focus on the cricket let alone winning it. England won the toss (most important thing in Indian conditions) and batted adequately in first innings(second most important thing in Indian conditions); then surprisingly, Indian team decided to gift England for coming back with shocking batting performance; now they find themselves chasing history to save the match on last 2 days.

Rahul Dravid's stocks are falling rapidly; unless he scores big in next 3 innings, his career will be over; it will be sad if India's best ever number 3 batsmen has to bow out this way.

SA - Aus test series

Things are hotting up with both sides dishing out verbal volleys. This SA team seems to be the best suited to win Australian conditions after mighty WI of late 80s. Hope thier fast bowlers stay injury free and trouble Aussie batsmen. Australians have had it too easy for sometime now except couple of series in India and England.

This week in Cricket - 30/11/2008 - 6/12/2008

This week was a dull week for cricket with hardly any action on the field. It is a strange situation after so much action during last few months.

Indian team for England series
No surprises; Yuvraj scored heavily at the right moment to get himself another shot at test cricket. Personally I would have liked to see a technically sound young batsman like Rohit Sharma get that chance but Yuvraj's claim is hard to ignore after back to back centuries( on placid wickets and an England attack not suited to the conditions).

England - India test series
If England return to India for test series, it will go a long way in removing the fear of touring India for countries. Tour looks to be on track at this point of time unless any surprising events take place. I am not sure how much cricket will be on every body's mind as now England do not have any practice match before the first test.

Australia - SA test series
I can't wait to see this series get started; an Australian team that on slight decline against a SA team that is on ascendancy. SA's attack looks enviable in Australian conditions with Steyn and Morne Morkel in their ranks. I think SA's main confidence booster will be from the knowledge that they will not be tormented by Warne again. This is a great chance for SA to put one across Australia.

Wish we had no religions in this world

It has been frustrating last few days watching few miscreants killing lot of innocent people. My first thoughts after seeing was:"why do we have different religions in this world". This would have reduced the unrest we have in our world today.

My condolences to all the people who died or got injured. it is high time we got serious about our internal security. It needs a focus planning and budget.

This Week In Cricket (24/11/2008 - 30/11/2008)

India-England one day series

India seem to be far superior to England in these conditions. India are finding match winners in all positions. Zaheer and Sehwag have been a revelations in last one year. Yuvraj has been unstoppable in this series. Dhoni's captaincy has been adequate so far. England seem to be confused about their best 11 and by the time they figure it out series will be over for them. On flat pitches it is difficult to except bits and pieces bowlers to succeed. England should have had Monty in their lineup.

Regarding India, my concern is that we will be in the same position as England when we tour Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa. Key thing is to plan ahead so that you have the best 11 for the conditions from match one.

Australia - NZ test series

New Zealand were competitive for first three days but Australia were much better batting team in the given conditions; this helped them to win the match. New Zealand had promising performances from Tim Southee and Ross Taylor. Australia's batting lineup for this match was really deep with both Symonds and Watson in the team.

My travel log

I traveled for a week to San Francisco (SFO). Here are some of the things I noticed

1.Our(Bangalore) new airport

a. it is pleasant , problem is that again it will be just enough in few years.
b. Immigration was a pleasant experience without any big lines. It felt like I was at some other international airport.

2. Singapore airport

a. Awesome!; feels like a huge shopping complex.
b. While returning, went on a short city organized by SIA (Singapore airlines). City looks like one big park (at least parts shown to us). I felt that Singapore will be nice city to work in; it is closer to India and is a beautiful city.

3. Food and entertainment options from SIA ranged from adequate to good; I can't understand why they have to give yogurt with every Indian meal when there is no rice to eat with.

4. Hotel in SFO was excellent(Hotel Vitale). Close proximity to Autodesk office was a huge bonus.

5. SFO airport looks like a old one in comparison to Singapore.

Cricket updates

I have not been able to blog for last few weeks for couple of reasons
1. I was down with a viral fever for a week.
2. I traveled during the last weekend (SFO) and have been busy with all day meetings till end of this week.

I shall leave for India tonight.

In cricket lot of things happened during this period. Here is my take on main ones.

1. Ganguly's retirement
Ganguly performed admirably in his last test match; playing against turn while facing first ball during second innings showed that he had already lost focus about the match by then; it could have easily been catastrophic if not for lucky partnership between Dhoni and Harbhajan.

2. Kreja
What a debut! he purchased wickets, but showed his potental by troubling Indian batsmen whenever he bowled in the right areas.

3. Ponting
What a miss!; I can;' understand him not bowling Watson after tea; one more wicket at that juncture and they had excellent chance of winning the match. I can't think over rate was the only issue here. I would have treaded missing a test macth against Newzealand( do Aussies need him against them?) to test victory to level the series. is there match fixing in play here?

4. Dhoni
If keeps amazing.; perfect captaincy record so far. He has also scored some crucial runs in this series.

5. India Australia test series

Excellent cricket throughout. Good advertisement for test cricket. I am firm advocate of cricket getting away from toss; this will make test matches more evenly contested. I would suggest that weaker team should always get the chance to decide wheter they want to bowl or bat.

This Week In Cricket (1/11/2008 - 9/11/2008)
Excuse me or not posting for last 2 weeks. I went to Chennai during Diwali and was down with viral fever after coming back. Lot of things have happened in cricket during that period. I shall try to post my take on these events in installments.

Delhi test match
Again an excellent advertisement for test cricket. Laxman and Gambhir batted beautifully to make sure that India were ahead in this match. Indian disappointing bowling and fielding created some tense moments in Indian second innings after Australia posted a healthy first innings score. At least now people should stop questioning Laxman's capabilities; I agree that he is not the most athletic player around but makes up for it with his boundary scoring abilities.

In the end draw was a good result for Australia after losing the toss and considering 600+ runs in the first innings.

Kumble has retired
Kumble's retirement had to be fast tracked as he was not sure of playing the last match of the series after suffering an injury Delhi test match. He chose the right occasion to have a grant send off that he richly deserved.

Kumble is the greatest match winner India has produced so far. I have fond memories of him bamboozling England batsmen during 92-93 series. This was the start of Indian domination on home soil. He has picked up wickets all around the world and has been the first man his captains looked for containing and picking wickets as well.