Cricket: South Africa India One Day Series

What a stunning fight back by the lower order SA batsmen in the 1st game! Truly remarkable... Never stop believing till the end. Always playing for a win. Never give up...

Double century for Sachin Tendulkar. Over hyped? I am not a fan of centuries and doubles. Buts hats off to the old man's fitness. 3 cheers!

Dhoni's batting in the 2nd ODI was really deadly. Hit flat sixes off the bottom hand. What strength, what eyes, what hands, WHAT A PLAYER!

It was nice to see Yousuf Pathan back in the thick of things. I really look forward to see him perform well. After all, he is Shane Warne's find!

In the 3rd match, nobody was interested. Even more proof of the fact that none of these 2 teams belong to the champions league like the Australians do. All were wanting to relax before the IPL

Why do all ODIs end up in more than 600 runs per day nowadays? Or more than 300 in an innings? I hate to say this.. But if this continues, I will loose interest in watching cricket. This is Bowlers' Mass Murder. Pull back the short boundaries. Resolve the due. Bring the back foot no ball rule back. ICC - are you listening?

Why is S. Sreesanth given an extended stay in the India Team? Does he have a god-father in the selection committee? Is Dhoni over-doing the risk? For the last so many matches, he has turned out to be the most expensive bowler in the team! Just sack him.

Why was a potential all-rounder like Abhishek Nayar dropped from the squad without giving him any chance to perform? Is that fair? Something evil cooking up in the selection process?

Cricket: India Vs. South Africa 2nd Test Match - Day 1 @ Eden Gardens, Kolkatta

My quotes:

• Why did Pieterson come in as an opener when Aswell Prince was in the line up? It proves that Prince is the non-preferred opener. Not good for the team balance.


• One of the most famous turnarounds. 8 wickets in 50 runs! No wonder that they call this team Chockers :-)


• Talking about Bunnies of opener captains, Graeme Smith is the biggest bunny that I can remember. More than Darryl Cullinan of Shane Warne. Hats of to ZAKS.


• Zaheer Khan, match after match, looks like a better and better bowler. OLD WINE :-) Much like Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Javagal Srinath. Very un-like Anil Kumble :-)


• Harbhajan Singh also keeps making comebacks. Another great bowler in the team


• India still miss an all-rounder. Even he is a national level and not international class, he must be given a chance in Tests. Candidates? Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Yousuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar. Anyone else? I always believe in Long Term Vs. Short and Higher Risks for Higher Returns. Got to make the difficult choice sometimes. I am hugely disappointed that Dhoni has not tried it yet.


• Hats off to Ishant Sharma for being the rawdy fast bowler that every good team so desperately needs


• Is Amit Mishra good enough to deserve so many chances in Tests? Or are there no other good enough spinners in India anymore? Why not Ramesh Powar?

India Vs. South Africa 1st Test Day 3

Interesting bullets:

• Sehwag deserves to be a strong contender for the player of the last decade. More on that later, in some other blog post.


• Dale Steyn is the best bowler in the world at the moment. Hands Down.


• Golden Words: Getting out caught behind the stumps is always less embarrassing than getting bowled - leaving the ball.


• The worst way to end the day for the ever so successful Sehwag is to send him to the face the press when all others in the team are too ashamed to face them.


• What is the worst quote of the year (already!)? "I was trying to smell the ball - that's why I bit it". Second worst: "The new ball was very helpful. It started to suddenly move around. The seam came off and then it swung like hell" from Dayle Steyn. Why on the earth would you say such thing when you have taken 8 wickets in a day? Can someone coach them Media Management? Not to reveal all the secrets?


• Not that the NEW-BALL episode is a controversy yet, but where are all the rules? And the rule makers? And the Ball Makers? Why do you need to change the ball every so often? Why is a replacement ball so different than the routine ball, that it can change the course of the match/series?


• Can India save this yet? Yes they can. Will they save this one? They might.


• Can India win this yet? They have, in the past. They still can. But they may not... Based on first 3 days, they don't deserve to!


• What do champion teams do when they are down and out? They gather all their reserve energies, dig deep and bounce back. Is India a Champion team? Will their 9 batsmen play out then (minimum) 9 to 10 hours? . . .