Gilchrist Going Nuts - Now it's Muralitharan's Action

He is retired now, and doesn't know what to do when not playing cricket. Or, it is a desperate marketing strategy for his autobiography? Whatever be the case, the former Australian keeper who was often described as the 'greatest current all-rounder' now seems to be fast losing it.

True Colours : My Life already seems to be more about the lives of other cricketers rather than Gilchrist's own. First it was his bit about Tendulkar's lack of honesty during the famed Sydney Trial, now it is about Muralitharan's bowling action. Gilly believes that Murali has a suspect action, and the ICC bent the rules of cricket to accommodate the Lankan. His part about ICC bending the rules of the game to accommodate is a fair accusation, but if Gilly really had the balls to be honest, he should not have singled out Muralitharan and stopped there, but come out with the whole scary truth.

As Gilchrist rightly points out, the ICC did change the rules - the definition of what constitutes a 'legal delivery' was indeed modified. But the redefinition was not to accommodate Muralitharan - it was to ensure that two of Gilchrist's own team-mates, Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie amongst many other leading bowlers of the world were not outlawed alongwith Murali!

Following Hair's no-balling Muralitharan for throwing, the ICC initiated a study of the bowling actions of bowlers across the world. This study revealed some shocking statistics - as per the existing laws of cricket, more than 90 percent of bowlers were chucking, not bowling! Imagine a scenario where the ICC had to ban McGrath, Pollock, Gillespie and Brett Lee - the world of cricket would have gone topsy turvy, at least temporarily international cricket would have come to a grinding halt. That's what hurried the ICC into amending the definition of a valid bowling action. Both McGrath and Lee were going beyond the ten degrees limit, and on a regular basis - it was not even a case where only the doosra was a problem.

Surely Gilly knows about this - then why this distortion of truth?

Gilchrist calls that change of rule by the ICC to accommodate Murali 'horse-crap'. The truth is that it is he who is trying to bull-shit his way to a best-seller. I also fear that he might actually succeed.

First Left Hand Double Century against Australia

Did you know that Gautam Gambhir just became the first left-hand opening batsman in history to score a double century against Australia?

(Australia played its first test a hundred and thirty four years before, and the Delhi Test is their 699th)

info source: Ian Chappell, informing ex-Australia captain and left-hand batsman Allan Border, on Neo Cricket.

Laxman vs Australia

Just 13 hundreds and a little over 6000 runs at an average below 45 are not the statistics that can assure VVS Laxman a place amongst the all time greats of the game. That do not even place him against India's best. Tendulkar has twice the number of runs and thrice the number of centuries. Ganguly, surely an inferior test batsman has more runs to show than the stylish Hyderabadi. Gavaskar, Dravid, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin and Vishwanath would all be ahead of Laxman in any list of India's all time test greats. But what make him special are his sublime touch and his record against the World Champions.

Earlier today, he completed his 6th ton against Australia. That's about half of his total number of centuries. Against an overall career average of 45, his average against Australia is over 50, and by the time the current India-Australia series comes to a close, he should have finished with a career batting average of about 55 against Australia. Of his 6000 runs, one-third of them have been aggregated against the Aussies. What makes his record against the world's leading test team even more special is the fact that he has been more successful against them in their own backyard. Laxman has 4 hundreds and over 1000 runs against Australia in Australia.

While almost every other leading batter in the world has used the matches against the minnows to prop up their batting averages, Laxman's career average against Zimbabwe is below his career average and against Bangladesh about 20. He seems to relish the challenge of playing against the world's best, and it's fitting that he will be playing his 100th test against his favourite opposition. The Nagpur test will be a very, very special one indeed!

Security disMay for Pakistan

Shouldn't the Indian cricket team be the most scared about travelling to and playing the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan? Yet, we hardly hear of any concerns from the Indian players; instead it is the Australians who are getting all worked up. Now, the Australian Cricket Association (ACA) has even given its official recommendation to its players - "don't travel to Pakistan". And guess what is the BCCI stand - Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary says he sees "no harm" in Pakistan hosting the prestigious tournament.

Only recently Bangalore and Ahmedabad were targeted with multiple blasts in a single day; the next day, the news channels were busy reporting as the Surat police kept finding bomb after unexploded bombs across the city - so much so, the channels finally lost interest in the count. In almost all cases of terrorism in this country, the government points out to Pakistan's hand. Yet, we are least bothered or worried when our players are going right into the 'terrorist den'.

Are we a nation of the most courageous, or has the relentless exposure to terrorism at home made us indifferent to the prospect of another bombing? I think it is neither - the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is right when it says that the ACA stand is absolutely illlogical. The ACA has given more weightage to the report given by Reg Dickason, based on his short stay in Karachi. You can't blame the PCB for being unhappy as the ACA has largely ignored the more comprehensive report provided by Nicholls Steyn, the security experts hired by the ICC.

The BCCI's stand is not any show of bravado - it just shows a more intelligent understanding of the situation in Pakistan. Imran Khan does have a point when he points out that no cricket team or player has been the target of any terrorist activity ever. With the Australian players, it looks like their wives, girlfriends and the ACA have a bigger influence on their decision than an official ICC report. What remains to be seen now is how Cricket Australia reacts. Or will it be ICC that comes to its rescue?!

I am no racist but Procter is a monkey

Last winter, when the cricket world was in the midst of another umpiring controversy, this blog had defended Mr. Darrell Hair - my stand was that in the process of indicting Hair, the ICC had violated one of the basic principles of modern democracies. The judiciary doesn't work like the legislature - on the principle of majority. A good judge dispassionately listens to witnesses, checks for evidences and motives only before pronouncing his sentence. Yesterday in Sydney, the ICC got it wrong yet again.

Handing out the Indian offie, Harbhajan Singh a 3 test ban for making a racist remark (he allegedly called Andrew Symonds a monkey), the ICC match referee Mike Procter said he was satisfied beyond doubt that the allegations made by the Australian cricketers was correct. And how exactly did he reach at this truth? The stump-mikes offered nothing, the umpires heard no such thing, out of the 4 Australian players who went along with Symonds for the hearing, 2 had heard nothing. Just that Ponting believed in the sincerity of his star all-rounder and decided to support him. Bhajji was supported by Tendulkar, Kumble and Dravid. They denied that their team-mate had made any such remark. So Procter, in the lack of any evidence went for the majority opinion! This team of people whose views was factored in included besides others the much maligned firm of Messers Bucknor and Benson!! Procter also added that he gave special importance to Michael Clarke's words. Now why would you that Mr. Neutral Refereee? Unless you have a thing for cute looking Aussie men or you are a racist yourself, Mr. Procter, I don't quite appreciate your modus operandi. And what was the Queen's Counsel, Nigel Peters doing all the while? He should surely have known a thing or two about the way legal systems work.

One practise day too many

So the BCCI has gone ahead and placed a request with Cricket Australia to reduce the duration of the practise game between the 2nd and the 3rd tests from 3 days to 2. And here we were wondering if India wasn't short of practise matches already. Just in case you are thinking that this wisdom may have been prompted by a concern for sufficient rest between the two test matches, Team India would have got a proper 3 days rest before the next game began at the WACA.

New Year Test: 2nd to 6th Jan, Sydney Cricket Ground

ACT Invitation XI vs India : 10th to 12th Jan, Manuka Oval in Canberra

3rd Test: 16th to 20th Jan, WACA Perth

...and Cricket Australia lost no time in accepting the Indian Board's request.

India vs Australia: 1st One-day : Bangalore

A seven match ODI series between India and Australia begins today (29th September 2007) at the Chinnaswami Stadium in Bangalore.

India Team for the Bangalore One-Day:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, R P Singh, Ramesh Powar, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Gautam Gambhir

Australia Team:
Adam Gilchrist (captain), Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Brad Hodge, Haddin, Hopes, Andrew Symonds, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Michael Clark, Stuart Clark

(5 surnames in the Australia team start with the letter H. Is that a record?)

Starting with this India-Australia match, the new ICC rules for One-day Internationals come into effect:

- If a bowler bowls a front foot no-ball, the following delivery will be deemed a free hit and the batsman cannot be dismissed by the bowler from that delivery. He can only be run out. ( the T20 free hit rule has been imported into ODI cricket)
- Additional fielder during the 2nd and 3rd powerplays.

This i think is the really sensible one:
- Mandatory change of ball after the 35th over. Not a new ball, but a clean used one.

- Proportionate reduction in powerplay overs (of the 2 kinds) if the innings is shortened.

It will also be interesting to see if the T20 kind of cricket has any immediate effects on the original slam-bang cricket. Captains couldn't have ignored the fact that it is quite possible to score 170-200 runs in 20 overs. The traditional 'good average' of 6 at the end of the powerplay overs may be questioned sooner than later. I have a feeling 400s would be far more frequent than they have been in the past!!!

India vs Australia: Match Schedule and Timings

The Australian team has already arrived in India and barring for the lone Twenty20 match at the end of the tour, it will be Australia who will be playing as the World Champions in this primarily One-Day Tour. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who will be leading India for the first time in a One-day series will know that 50 overs is a different ball game compared to the fare that was dished out recently in South Africa. Plus he will now need to handle 3 ex-captains in the team. Let's hope that Dhoni will be able to leave as strong a mark on this game as he did in the other.

Here's the full schedule of Australia's tour comprising 7 one-day internationals and 1 Twenty20 encounter.

Match	Date	Time	Venue
India vs Australia 1st ODI	29 September	2:30 pm IST (d/n)	Bangalore
2nd One-Day	2 October	9:00 am	Kochi
3rd ODI	5 October	9:00 am	Hyderabad
4th ODI	9 October	9:00 am	Chandigarh
5th ODI	11 October	9:00 am	Vadodara
6th ODI	14 October	9:00 am	Nagpur
7th One-dayer	17 October	2:30 pm (d/n)	Mumbai
Only Twenty20 India vs Australia	20 October	7:00 pm(d/n)	Mumbai

* The ODI at Mumbai is live from the Wankhede Stadium and the T20 match will be held at the Brabourne Stadium.

Stories from the Cricket Blogosphere

The prayers of a blue billion and about half a green billion have been answered - an India vs Pakistan final is one of the ultimate fantasies of a cricket fan and it's been delivered, and how!! With Twenty20 having caught the imagination of the world, i thought of surfing the blogosphere and see what fellow cricket bloggers were writing. Here are some random gems

1.

"I will smash your face, you just wait" - The Yuvraj Singh-Flintoff controversy. And Yuvi's "Pay-Back Drama." Karthikeya digs into this story on his blog A Cricketing View - while this is not the best time to criticize Mr. Sixes, but i think Yuvraj had ready sound-bites for the media post his 666666. You must have already heard the "God, this is not justice" crap. I don't know why the press or the electronic media let go off of the 'tendonitis/tennis elbow' nonsense so easily even though Nasser Hussain and Harsh Bhogle had supplied the world with enough fodder for thought.

2.

India v South Africa by the Left Arm ChinaMan

Thus spake the Atheist: So frustrated by their ineptitude, that the Saffer wicket keeper, Mark Boucher, began to slap the faces of surrounding players with his glove, followed by some sound punching and then he tripped them up with a cricket bat which has recently grown from his mid-rift.

Go there, if not for the text, for the image accompanying this post.

3.

"Its l like watching an Angelina Jolie sex scene" - Uncle Rod similizes Yuvi's power hitting

4.

Homer's Eeerie parallels between the autumns of 2000 and 2007

5.

This ain't a pure cricket blog, but she writes the cutest posts on cricket: Dravid Resigns at Pri's World

"I title my post Dravid Resigns and yet every other word in my post ends with a kar, you know like Gavaskar, Vengsarkar etc. "

6.

Visit Brian Carpenter's Different Shades of Green for the best/most elegant header image amongst all the cricket blogs in the world. Like everyone else in England, he too seems to be mch troubled with Mr. Yuvraj Singh and is trying to find succour in county cricket!!

7.

"Brett Lee bowled with speed and aggression, knowing a good performance here could help him push another million Bollywood singles. "- JC's report on the India-Australia semi-final at his Cricket Blog. A tad staid by JC's standards, but the comments make-up for the lack of spice.

8.

Catch Bhajji's Bhangra (India vs Australia) at Six and Out . And if you are there, you may as well read this brief piece titled Yuvraj's Jab in Freddies Jaw

9.

I love cricket, but if it could be combined with a bit of art and a bit of action, it would be perfect. Check out Cricket=Action=Art for some stunning cricket artwork. Here's an example.

Plenty of visual delights on this blog, including an image of the victory huddle that India formed yesterday afternoon at the Kingsmead, Durban.

World Twenty20: It's a India vs Pakistan final

It was the expected thing in the 1987 Reliance World Cup, but didn't happen as England and Australia spoiled the fun at the penultimate juncture. Twenty years later in the Twenty20 Cup, with both India and Pakistan fielding young teams and new captains at the helm, no one expected the sub-continent arch-rivals to reach this far. But then cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, ain't it?

In the first semi-final of the inaugural World Twenty20 championship, New Zealand took on Pakistan at Capetown. Daniel Vettori won the toss and asked Pakistan to make first use of the wicket which promised some movement and early help for the faster bowlers. Shane Bond got into the act in the first over itself scalping opener Imran Nazir ever before the young man had opened his account. But from there on it was Pakistan all the way as they thrased the Kiwi attack all round the park. Even Vettori, who has had a most economical series so far was not spared. The hapless NewZealand captain was taken for 24 runs in his final over as Shahid Afridi just missed breaking Yuvraj Singh's record of T20's fastest fifty. Afridi was finally dismissed for 49 off just 10 balls. (for the video of Afridi's 8 consecutive sixes, click here :)) .

Chasing a mammoth target of 222, NZ got off to a blistering start reaching 75 in just 5.0 overs. It was the brilliant change of attack from the Pakistan captain that changed the tide of the game completely - in the 6th over, Malik brought on himself even though the fielding restrictions were still on and in the 7th over, a double change happened as spin was introduced from the other end as well, in the form of Afridi. Malik and Afridi bowled in tandem right from the 6th to the 13th over - and what a spell it was! Many many years from now, cricket fans would still remember this afternoon in Capetown when two Pakistani spinners mesmerized the Kiwis into abject surrender.

Not a single wicket fell in the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th overs but the Kiwis were in deep tangle as the scorecard read 80/0. Just five runs were scored off the last five overs and the asking rate had climbed to a steep 14.20. Under intense pressure to get going, one after the other NZ batsmen threw away their wickets and by the time the two spinners had finished their quota of overs, the match was for all purposes over. The scorecard read 92/7 at the end of over no.13 . Pakistan finally won the match by 92 runs to reach the final.

In the other semi-final at Durban, Australia who chose to bat first were dismissed for all of 43 runs. Ajit Agarkar who once again managed to find a place in the India XI wreaked havoc on the Aussies as he dismissed Gilchrist, Hayden, Symonds, Hussey, Hodge, Clarke and Watson. He finished with figures of 3.5-0-21-7 . India rattled off the required 44 runs without the loss of any wickets. Speaking at the post-match conference, Adam Gilchrist said, "It was the most humiliating day of my life." (Gilchrist was out hit-wicket as a squash ball fell onto his stumps :) )

Ashes and War

Two pairs of arch rivals will fight T20 battles tomorrow in the much drenched cricket-fields of Capetown and Durban. Tommorow's afternoon fight promises to be one exciting one with the most fiercesome of the four warriors back against the walls having suffered a gory loss to an unfancied outsider in the 1st Battle-of-Capetown. Will the giant be able to brush apart its bruises and scars and finish victorious in the do-or-die clash tomorrow? In yesterday's encounter Ponting's soldiers started off with the intetion of blitzkrieging the men from Zimbabwe. The strategy backfired with heavy early casualties, a position of weakness from which the Australians never could recover. What will be their game plan for the morrow? Afterall the English castle is only stronger than the Zimbabwean one, and unfocussed heavy shelling may not be a prudent idea. However a planned artillery attack to weaken the enemy before the final hand-combat might just do the trick.

Translated: Gilchrist and Hayden will need to avoid the tempation to go firing on all cylinders all the time. Give Freddie the respect if he bowls like the way he did today againt Zimb. It is possible to reach a 190-200 score even if one bowler ends up with figures of 4-1-29-2. T20 is slam-bang but not as slam-bang as Ponting thought/thinks it was/is!!

When the sun sets tomorrow in Durban, the stars will rise - to shine, and fight. A new general is in charge of the Hindoostan army and unlike the previous incumbent he is no Wall. To the contrary, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a 'Wall-Demolisher'. He dislikes minor skirmishes prefering instead to wage mounted battles or launching missiles. In an earlier avatar as an ordinary soldier, he had once brought the same enemy to its knees in a battle on the eastern coast of India. In that magnificient battle, Dhoni single-handedly shot down 148 men of the Pakistan navy - most remarkable were those four sensational shots when he drowned naval ships carrying 6 men with a single fire. 15 other times he shot down ships carrying 4 men apiece. But that clash is now history and tomorrow is a new day. The Pakistani army is also under a new dynamic and multi-talented leader - Shoaib Malik. For General Malik the primary task will be to marshall his own unruly troops. He knows that he has a bunch of great individual fighters, but can they stop the in-fighting to focus their energies on wiping out the opposition?

Will Dhoni's men be able to put it across Pakistan then? I suspect the key may lie in INS Sehwag, that old warship which has seen much battle but rusty now for lack of use. INS Pathan faces a similar predicament. If these two old war-horses can kick off that rust and manage to shimmer, the Blue stars can definitely outshine the Green ones tomorrow night.

*******

Twenty20 World Cup: 14 September 2007

Afternoon, 1200 GMT : Australia vs England, Capetown

Evening, 1600 GMT : India vs Pakistan, Durban

Down the memory lane

Those were the days.
( A Cricket Match at the MCG, 1864)

Source: Wikipedia

Scotching Australia

"It's 11 against 11 - if we can bowl and bat to our plans and put them under pressure we've got a chance of causing a shock."

- Majid Haq, Scotland All-rounder

Way to go, Mr. Haq. Me, a certain Mr. Sunil Gavaskar, at least one reader of this blog and the entire northern hemisphere and most of south too is right behind you. Go get them. Come hard at the Aussies - they are down in the dumps already. Bangladesh has done it before, can't see why Scotland cannot. Ask Glenn to sledge back, if need be - afterall he was born in the homeland of sledging. He should be able to teach Ponting and his mates a thing or two!

ps: I'm just kidding, and still very much a gentleman. And, cricket is our game. Not the sledgers'.



reference:
ICC Cricket World Cup 2007: Group A, Scotland vs Australia, March 14th 2007 - Warner Park, St. Kitts.
Glenn Rogers, Scotland bowler was born in Australia.



*******
Pakistan lost to West Indies in Match 1 at Sabina Park, Jamaica - 13th March, MOM: Dwayne Smith, WI won by 54 runs. Tomorrow's second match: Canada vs Kenya, St Lucia (Group C)

Champions Trophy: India outclassed by World Champions

At the end of over no.42, India were not too badly placed at 197 for 4, with Mohammad Kaif and Mahender Singh Dhoni doing duty for India in the middle of the Punjab Cricket Association Ground at Mohali, Chandigarh in the last league match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2006. Things took a turn from there on, as the World Champions took control of the match, first with the ball and then with the bat. Riding on controlled late spells by the pace duo of Lee and Mc Grath and superb knocks from skipper Ponting and man-of-the-match Damien Martyn, Australia thrashed India by 6 wickets and qualified for the semi-finals in style.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Dravid won the toss, and as expected, elected to bat. Considering the recent form of the Indian batsmen, the team got off to a reasonably good start. Tendulkar and Sehwag laid a good foundation, though Tendulkar himself got out cheaply for 10. His opening partner however struck form at the right time – there is something about Sehwag, for a man badly out of form (he had 54 runs from his previous 6 innings), he is almost arrogantly confident. In the very first ball of the match, Sehwag swung the bat and guided the ball to the third man. Not once did he look out of touch against Lee, Mc Grath or any of the other Aussie bowlers. Compare this to the in-form Tendulkar, who took his own sweet time getting settled down, opening his account not before he had faced a dozen balls already. Sehwag had already raced to 21 by then. Dravid continued with the good work and the platform had been created. What was needed now was for the stroke-makers to come to the party.

Therein India failed, and miserably so. Raina coming in before the free-playing Pathan was a wrong ploy, and it cost India dear with him failing even to rotate the strike. This was the period when Lee, who had been expensive earlier, sent down a maiden 43rd over, following it up with just a single off his next over. India should have reached in excess of 275, and fell short by a good twenty five runs. In the hindsight, you could well say that the way Australia batted, even 275 would not have been enough. But twenty five more runs would have put further pressure on the batsmen, and what would have happened then, you would never know. However, that was not the case and the Aussie openers ripped the Indian quickies apart without ever really playing a risky shot. Pathan and Munaf did not have the pace to rattle the batsmen, and both Gilchrist and Shane Watson settled in comfortably. While Gilchrist scored his first two boundaries against Pathan, Watson scored his first two against Patel. When they were bowling a fuller length, the line was too wide and when it was dug in short, either didn’t have the speed to make it count. 26 runs were scored off the 7th and 8th overs and from there on the run rate never fell below 6 till the 25th over. Skipper Ponting joined in the fun later and scored a brisk 58. Not afraid to come out of his crease, he never really allowed Harbhajan or Mongia to really dominate the proceedings. While Mongia impressed with his spinners, Harbhajan should have bowled a more attacking line. He bowled too flat and too defensively, and the batsmen were quite happy to let him do that. Among the two, Mongia was the one who looked like taking any wickets. And he did that in his very first over. At 111/2, Damien Martyn trodded in, to play his most memorable innings in recent times. Martyn started off catiously against the spinners, but when he finally opened himself up, he was on song. Much like his skipper, Martyn used his feet well against the spinners. Including a beautiful inside-out drive over the cover fence against Mongia, he struck eight lucid boundaries. When he finally flicked a low full toss from Patel to the midwicket boundary, Martyn broke Australia’s jinx against India in the Champions Trophy. For India, it was all over.

Champions Trophy: India's duty to the World of Cricket

On Sunday, the 29th of October 2006, the Indian cricket team will need to shoulder a huge responsibility. It is in all likelihood, not going to be a very important match for India, as they will probably beat the West Indies in their next match and seal a place in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy. But the importance of the match is much bigger - India will be doing duty for the entire cricketing fraternity.

For too long now, one team has been dominating the world of cricket. Australia's incessant reign at the top has resulted in the game becoming less charming and less popular. The Indian cricket team has a chance now to send them packing back home. An early exit by the Australians will be a refreshing change. You could argue saying that even in the previous editions of this trophy, Australia have made quick exits. But they were one-off, knock-out matches, which could be called flukes. That's not the case here. The once-mighty West Indians dealt them an early blow this time. But unlike last time, they have a chance to recover. England could have sealed their fates, but they pom-pommed their way to a defeat. So, the mantle is on India's shoulders now. Send the Aussies home early and do the world of cricket a favour. It will be upto the Englishmen then, to retain the Ashes, and clinch the deal for the world.