The Midwest Chronicles - Hefflinger Cup 2019: Staring into the abyss

The Cricket Association of Nebraska (CAN) and Simply Play Cricket (SPC) co-hosted the 2019 Invitational Hefflinger Cup in August 2019. Nine teams were divided into three groups with the top 4 teams making the knockout. Here are the exploits of the Nebraska Cricket Club (NCC).

2019 Invitational Hefflinger Cup
Group C game: Nebraska Cricket Club versus Titans
Venue: Hefflinger Park, North ground, Omaha, Nebraska

Nebraska CC Players: Anoop Reddy, Ashish Sathyan, Asif Iqbal, C S Manish (wk), Dikshant Saini, Mojib Afghan, Phillip Blake, Saumil Patel, Sriram Surapaneni, Suresh Gorantla (C), Vijay Reddy

Titans Players: Abdul Khaliq Shaik (wk), Akash Vemulapalli, Amarendra Dasari, Avinash Gurram, Hiren Tummala (C), Jithin Pavuluri, Ravi Teja Gadde, Rohit Kashyap, Sampras Manpoor, Sandeep Reddy Palle, Vishnu Gude

Overnight showers had left behind a damp carpet and the NCC captain, Suresh Gorantla, had no hesitation in asking Titans to bat first. Ashish Sathyan, trundling in off a shortened run-up took his time getting his radar organized, with 4 wides in the first 3 balls. His third legitimate ball was the stuff of which fast bowler's dreams are made, a rapidly climbing delivery that forced the batsman to flinch and turn away, resulting in a simple, loopy catch next to the square-leg umpire. Practice catches don't come easier than that and Suresh Gorantla made no mistake.

(Please click to continue reading)

Linked up

1) I do not follow Major League Baseball closely any more. I'd be hard-pressed to name 5 players who are currently active. The first name that comes to mind, though, is Ichiro Suzuki. I recently wondered whether he had retired and came across this haunting, haunting piece about Ichiro - the man who has become the very thing he hated to become as a 3 year old. Very sad.

2) If a tree is falls in a forest but there is no one to hear it does it make a sound? The best bowling analysis EVER in a T20 match happened at Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad but to the cricketing it world it does not exist. Alfred Absolem took a scarcely believable  7 wickets for 15 runs but his achievement will probably never be acknowledged because it was a played between two teams in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) which was obliterated by the IPL/BCCI within a few years.

3) The only NFL player I actually wanted to watch in person was Randy Moss. I managed to do it once at Ford Field in Detroit. If you want to know why he has great, watch this: EVERY TD of his greater than 40 yards. Mind you, these are only those that were 40 yards or longer....

For the want of a nail - part 2??

On June 17, 2015 I wrote something that I am scared may repeat itself....here it is with some modifications:

In an alternate universe somewhere Ajinkya Rahane Ravindra Jadeja does not drop Alistair Cook, Umesh Yadav Pankaj Singh gets the first (of many) wickets, India gains ascendancy and wins the Test series against England, Alistair Cook is sacked as captain, India hosts goes to Australia buoyed by their away win,.....

Months later, I still relive that dropped catch.

Because Ajinkya Rahane Ravindra Jadeja did not take a simple catch at point, a kingdom was lost.

For the want of a nail

In an alternate universe somewhere Ravindra Jadeja does not drop Alistair Cook, Pankaj Singh gets the first (of many) wickets, India gains ascendancy and wins the Test series against England, Alistair Cook is sacked as captain, India goes to Australia buoyed by their away win, Saha does not suffer a brain fade at Adelaide and Kohli is able to pull off a monstrously incredible Test victory and gives the perfect speech in Hughes' memory, India gains further confidence, wins the Test series, steamrolls through the World Cup semi (where Kohli does not drop Johnson), pulverizes New Zealand in the final.....

Months later, I still relive that dropped catch.

Because Ravindra Jadeja did not take a simple catch at point, a kingdom was lost.

The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime

So, Sunil Narine's bowling action has been found to be illegal and he has been suspended from further participation until he rectifies it (in some tournaments and not others...but that is grist for another mill).

Sunil Narine in action.
(Click here for photo credit)

I have ALWAYS thought his action was dicey, so I am not surprised. In general, I do not like bowlers who have jerky actions so I am not shedding tears at the recent clampdown on illegal bowling actions.

Here is what is interesting to me in the entire Narine saga: even as various conspiracy theories are floated for the timing of the ban and many folks (including Clive Lloyd) fume about the ban itself, one thing is striking - no one is defending Narine's action as being legal. Not. One. Person.

Everyone is harping on about how he has been allowed to bowl for so long (as if that is reason enough to not suspend him now) and how it is w itch hunt bu why is no one even talking about the elephant in the room - that his action is dodgy.  That to me is more damning than any video evidence.

Raise your hand in protest, Mr. Narine, but be sure you don't bend that elbow when you do so.

Once more unto the breach

Update: Verily, my worst fears came to pass. Displaying no real conviction that they could actually hold out for an entire day, the batsmen pottered around and were bowled out before lunch on the 5th day. I do not think they had a real plan other than - bat out the day. When Moeen Ali can get 4 batsmen clean bowled on the last day, it's a sign that all the "thinking" that goes on behind the scenes as well as the wishful kind that exists on blogs like mine are useless endeavors. The sad thing is that once England batted out the first day losing just a couple of wickets, the script for the rest of the match was written and it played out exactly like that.

After 4 days of play in the third Test of the India-England series, India needs 333 runs to win with just 6 wickets in hand.

Realistically speaking...conventional wisdom says that the Indian batsmen have to survive 90 overs on Day 5. A task that is unlikely to happen. According to CricInfo:
76.3 - The most number of overs India's last six wickets have played in the fourth innings of a Test. In order to save this Test, the last six Indian wickets need to play out 99.4 overs, of which 9.4 overs have already been negotiated by Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. The most number of overs India's last six wickets have played in an away Test is 68.5, versus England at Lord's in 2002.

In the unlikely event that India can bat out that many overs, I will be very happy.

But instead, I propose something radically different. The two current batsmen - Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma - ought to bat as naturally as they can and occupy the crease, while scoring runs and not simply deadbatting everything that is flung their way. But, irrespective of how they do, I think the rest of the Indian batsmen - MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar in particular - should attack the target. Yes, we need 333 in 90 overs and it will not happen (most likely scenario) but I think we are more likely to chase down 333 than we are to survive 90 overs.

It's a simple equation, MSD - don't try to do something alien to you. Pretend this is an extended ODI and go for it! I can promise you one thing - if the English lead dwindles rapidly, Alistair Cook will get very defensive, making it much easier for you to save the Test if it comes to that.

But, I don't hold much hopes for such an endeavor. I am resigned to accepting that the Indians will offer token defensive resistance and crumble sometime between lunch and Tea. I so dearly hope not!

Go down with your guns blazing, MSD! The situation is tailor-made for your new team.

Testing times

Various articles have been written bemoaning the death of Test cricket, too many to even bother linking to. Just as many articles have been written in support of it, pointing out the most recently completed thriller as an example of how the format is awesome and must not be killed.

Test cricket is unique among the 3 forms of the game in that there is an option for an honorable draw. THAT  is what sets it apart from T20 and ODIs. And for every thumping win that a team has, there is a gut-wrenching draw or near-draw to fall back upon. This was never better illustrated than the recent two Test series between Sri Lanka and England, where Sri Lanka nearly lost the first one but held on for a draw and nearly drew the second one but hung on for a win.

Mark Nicholas said it best in the article linked above. Here's an excerpt from it (I strongly urge you to read the whole thing to get a taste of the drama):

Now if you wanted to slag off Moeen, you damn well could. I mean, fancy not nicking the strike to save Jimmy from himself (Joke.) Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy. Balls 51 to 54 were superbly handled. Two remained to save the match, a task incidentally that no other team in history that had been five down going into the last day of a Test had achieved.

Eranga sprinted up the Headingley hill. He flung the leather short and hard at Anderson's throat. If only Anderson had ducked, or swayed, or slipped, or fell. But he didn't. See Moeen, Jimmy tried to play this frightening missile with his bat, or glove, or hand, or wrist or something. From his bat, it ballooned up in the air and was caught. If it had been you Moeen, no problem. You are a marvellous batsman. Whereas Jimmy, if not quite a rabbit, is no Geoff Boycott. The best nought in the history of cricket came to nothing, whichever way you look at it.

Field of dreams

On his blog, Harsha Bhogle waxed nostalgic about Fateh Maidan.

(© Getty Images)

Harsha's memories of the stadium are from an insider's perspective, since he had access as a commentator long after he ceased visiting it as a spectator.

The Lal Bahadur Stadium was like that to us, except that nobody called it by that name. It was always the Fateh Maidan or the “stadium”. It was holy, it was the home of cricket, it was ours. I saw my first match there, played on a turf wicket there for the first time and my first commentary session was there too. Do I give the impression that the pillars spoke to me? I might have thought it was so…once.
(...)
Around that time I had first set foot in the commentary box, like the dressing room, a much hyped place made special only by the people within it. All of 19 and wearing a twenty rupee t-shirt, a pair of jeans and rubber slippers, I had done my audition there. It was where Shyam Karwande and HK Srinivas sat and talked about the “Hill Fort End”, Naubat Pahad to everyone else. In my audition I said “Hill Fort End” and felt special too.

It called me back often and I grew to like the little area, only a little bigger than a cubicle with two wide windows we looked through. It was where the first step had been taken, it was mine. 

My memories are more of the Fateh Maidan Club, whose Tandoori chicken and parantha are unmatched in my memory. I guess I was spoiled at a young age - I have never been able to enjoy either of those food items since then as what I have pales in significance with the FMC items. Even after all these years, I  can still taste them, if that makes sense.

I watched a few matches at Fateh Maidan. Two stand out in memory. There was a game against the Australians where RP Singh (the other one) began his international career with a maiden over and little else about his bowling was remarkable. Australia batted first, Bruce Reid read a Sidney Sheldon book (for once I had good seats in a section right next to the Australian players), and a torrential downpour forced the match to be abandoned soon after my hero, Mohammad Azharuddin, came in to bat. I walked home from there as I did not feel like fighting the crowd at the bus stop and I was already soaking wet. Back then it did not seem too far away to walk home. Those of you who know the distance will know it took me a while to do so. And it rained all the way home!

The second one against the Kiwis holds better cricketing memories for me - I got to watch Azharuddin play a sublime innings filled with boundaries, Richard Hadlee found swing where no one else did, and Arshad Ayub pleased the locals with a few wickets. That inning of Azhar's was enough to fill me with a lifetime of good memories and thoughts about the fellow, all his subsequent (alleged) shenanigans notwithstanding.

Sitting at the far end of the ground, diametrically opposite to the FMC end, I did not know then that my life would change in a few months. I have never been to an international match at a stadium since. In hindsight, I am glad that those days at Fateh Maidan remain my last memories of a day spent watching a Test match.

P.S. Here is another recollection of the glory days of Fateh Maidan from former South Zone offspinner V Ramnarayan.

Don't bag it, Sachin

Dear Sachin,

Years ago, Sports Illustrated begged another sporting legend to not quit the sport.  Today, it's my turn to follow their lead.

So, don't bag it, Sachin!  Some time ago, Times of India asked: Endulkar?  My reply today is an emphatic - No!

Several folks are telling you it is time for you to retire from cricket.  I have three things to say about it.

1)  It is NONE of their business to tell you when to retire.  That's a personal choice that is entirely yours to make.  Don't compound their mistake.  Their cries for you to retire are, in reality, cries for you to be dropped from the Indian team.  Those are two different things.  You've been playing cricket for your entire life and competitive cricket for 4/5ths of it.  Who are they to tell you when to stop?

2)  I don't want you to make the same mistake, too.  Retiring from international cricket is different from retiring from playing cricket.  It is very obvious that you love the game very much.  Keep at it.  Play Ranji Trophy, play county cricket.  Play the game for the love of it and not for the trappings that come with it.  If Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash could be productive into their mid-40's, so can you.  Heck, it would it really benefit Indian cricket if the Ranji players got to bowl to the likes of you and VVS Laxman.  It would give the selectors a clearer idea of how good they really are.

3)  To hell with how your legacy is being impacted the longer you play.  Don't fret it.  In the end, these last few flickers of the flame will be forgotten when your whole body of work is looked at.

When it comes time to discuss legacies, no one really cares any more that...

• Sourav Ganguly's last Test inning was a golden duck, out to a spinner, of all things.  At least his fate was the same as Don Bradman's, in that regard.
• Muhammad Ali was pounded into submission by someone named Trevor Berbick in his last bout.
• Pele spent the last three years of his career playing for the New York Cosmos.
• Michael Schumacher spent his last three years racing for Mercedes without winning a single race.
• Jerry Rice did not catch a single pass in his final game, in a playoff no less....for the Seattle Seahawks.
• Wayne Gretzky's last season with the New York Rangers fetched him only 9 goals (in 81 games).
• Sunil Gavaskar was bowled for 4 in his final international inning by a journeyman fast bowler.
• Michael Jordan spent his last two seasons with the Washington Wizards and did not even make the playoffs in those two years

Do you want me to cite more?  You get the point, don't you?  Legacy is over-rated.  You will not tarnish your legacy by playing on as long as you wish to.  If the selectors are bold enough to drop you, so be it.  They are simply dropping you from the Indian team, not stopping you from playing cricket.  That's what you value more, isn't it?

You are still among the best batsmen India currently has.  You are among the best outfielders in cricket.  Until someone else comes by whose contributions are vastly superior to the ones you can provide, I feel you should play.  After all, when you did play a Ranji Trophy match recently you made a century almost for fun, toying with the bowling.

Go back to being the kid who hated to get out, the kid who treasured the 13 one-rupee coins he won for not getting bowled, the kid who couldn't stop smiling when the World Cup was won, the kid who loved cricket for cricket's sake.

The Aussies will be here in a few months.  I look forward to seeing you take them on.  And if the selectors decide otherwise, I'll still look forward to you playing some first-class cricket and making centuries for fun.  Like how it used to be.  Like how it can be.  Like how it should be.

Because one day you, and only you, will know that it is time for one last fling.  For one last inning.  For one last battle.

For love of the game.



Sincerely
Jaunty

The end is nigh

When Ricky Ponting announced his retirement yesterday he did so with refreshing candor and honesty.

Can you even imagine any Indian player ever saying the following things about the state of his game?

"It's a decision I thought long and hard about, put in long consideration about the decision, at the end of the day it was about my results and my output in this series so far," Ponting said. "It hasn't been to the level required for batsmen and players in the Australian team. My level of performance hasn't been good enough."

"I want to be a consistent performer, and if you look back over the last 12 or 18 months I haven't been able to perform consistently. I've had moments of really good stuff, and prolonged moments of cricket that's been below my expectations and below a par level for me, so there hasn't been one dismissal or one moment, it's just been in my own eyes reasonably consistent failure. That's why I believe the time is right now to be making this decision."

Wow.

I feel like crying when I read that, not because I will miss Ponting (more on that in a second) but because I have become too used to hearing our folks talk about the 15,000 runs they have scored, the 50+ they average as an opening pair with Sehwag, or hark back to the 400+ wickets they have taken.  The first step to dealing with a problem is to admit that there is one.  The reason the members of the Indian team continue to flounder is because they insist that all is well and keep repeating the same mistake even as the opposition players have wizened up to their bag of skills.

But I digress.  This is about Ponting.  For much of the last decade Ponting's was the wicket I most looked forward to being dismissed.  Even when he was playing someone other than India.  One of my happiest moments ever was when I saw Ponting getting out for 99.

In the prime of his prime, when he was making centuries at a rate bested only by Bradman, I hated the fellow.  In the evening of his prime, as he became more expansive with his time and interviews, I came to grudgingly admire him for his honesty and *shock* graciousness in defeat.

Yet, it did not stop me from exulting when Jacques Kallis cleaned him up in the first inning of the recent Adelaide Test.  Seeing Ponting on all fours by the time he finished his shuffle brought me joy.  Today, I am a little sad that I was so gleeful.

If Imran Khan and Malcolm Marshall are the two bowlers I feared the most as an Indian fan, then Ponting is the batsman to match them in my mind.

However, when the Perth Test starts later today, for the first time in my life, I will be rooting for Ponting to score a century.  In fact, I hope he scores two of them.  Years ago, I exulted when he came one run short of being the first person to score twin centuries in a Test 4 times.  This time I hope he gets to three figures.  And beyond.

(Getty images, 2012, via CricInfo)

It took him 15 years to make me change my mind about him.  But in the end, he did.  Nostalgia does strange things to the best of minds, so what chance did I really have?

Casting stones

Harbhajan Singh is back in the Indian team after a spell on the sidelines.  Once his selection was confirmed he lashed out at his critics telling them that a player should not be judged more than just the number of wickets he takes.  (It's a different matter altogether that Economy Singh has done diddly-squat in the time that he was out of the squad and no sound reason exists for him returning to it).

By the way, about a year ago, the very-same Harbhajan Singh was not beyond throwing around the fact that taking 400-plus Test wickets was justification enough for keeping his place in the Indian team.

Like Gautam Gambhir a few days ago, Harbhajan Singh needs to figure out exactly what it is that he wants to peg his hat on.  Self-reflection of an honest kind is seriously lacking among the current Indian players, it seems.

Harbhajan, read Ricky Ponting's incredibly candid self-assessment and learn something.  Please.

Ponting was trapped lbw three times in four innings in the South African series, twice dismissed for a duck, as Steyn and Vernon Philander made him their batting bunny.
Only a fighting 62 in the second Test saved Ponting's career and the 37-year-old now concedes he had huge technical problems and was almost falling over at the crease, in what were some of the lowest moments of his career.
“There is no doubt it was a lowlight. At that stage we needed me to be getting runs if the team was going to win games,'' Ponting said.
“Whenever you fail it is not just about you, it is feeling like you've let your teammates down.
“It was technical - you don't go from playing the way I was playing to getting hit on the pad as often as I was without something being wrong.
“My pre-ball movements were just a little bit earlier than what they should have been. I was trying to move early to give myself more time but it was actually having a detrimental affect. I was moving too early and locking off and not being able to move again after that.
“It took a long time to break the habit I was in and the cycle I was in.”

Scout's honor

Aakash Chopra played with great distinction for Delhi on the Indian domestic circuit before he was unceremoniously dumped from the squad.  Rather than waste time fighting the system, he took that as an opportunity to migrate and play for Rajasthan.  In two years, Rajasthan won the Ranji Trophy twice and his reward.....

....well, read for yourself.  There's a reason I will be following the fortunes of the Himachal Pradesh Ranji team very closely this year.  In fact, my dream final would be between Himachal Pradesh and Hyderabad.

So, why am I on the road once again? Have I fallen in love with this nomadic lifestyle? Or is it the lure of money that has forced me to ditch my old team? No, I don’t like living out of a suitcase and away from my family for five months in a year. The older you get, the more you miss the comforts of your home. No, it isn’t the money either, for God’s been kind enough to provide enough work to keep me occupied and the fire burning in the kitchen. I’m on the road for the very thing that made me hit the road for the first time - honour, a sportsman’s eternal quest.

Paradise regained

If he plays a few more Tests, Mahela Jayawardene will supplant Rahul Dravid as the most prolific Test match fielder in history.  Lots of articles will be written about the (often) ignored Sri Lankan batting legend.  Many more have already been written about Kumar Sangakkara, who melds his lawyerly background with an outspokenness that is loved by writers everywhere.  Sangakkara, with his faux British-Lankan accent captures the popular press while the man who has made more runs, scored more centuries, and made the highest-ever score by a right-hander in Tests is content to cede the spotlight.

However, for all the press that the more prominent cricketers of our time (the Pietersens, the Tendulkars, the Kohlis) get, I doubt any of them will be the feature of a tribute as wonderful as this one by Wright Thompson, of ESPN.

This happened a few years back, a month after finishing a crushing second in the 2007 World Cup. It was during the war, when checkpoints regularly stopped traffic on the highways. Java and Mahela, the team captain, rode back late at night from a friend's funeral. Java drove. It was dark and empty on the garrison road. The troops stopped them. It was dark, the soldiers focused and on edge, the cricket star was out of context. Java was exhausted and needed to get home. "Tell him who you are," Java begged. "I won't," Mahela said. 

Java laughs now in the hotel lobby. "This guy asked for the ID," he says, "so he gave him the ID. The ID doesn't say 'Mahela Jayawardene,' it says 'Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene.' Even if you read it, it doesn't click, unless you look for it, you know?" 

They waited on the soldiers to finish searching their car and then drove on to town. Java was annoyed and wanted to know why Mahela wouldn't do something so simple that would speed up their day. "I may play cricket," he said, "but let them do their job."

Surf's up: Random musings - 7

a)  So, last night the result of an NFL game was determined by the shoddiness of replacement referees.  Ho-hum.  The debacle could have been avoided had any of the Green Bay Packer defenders followed the first rule of defending Hail Mary passes - KNOCK THE BALL DOWN!

Take a look at the replay - no less than three Green Bay defenders had the chance to ice the game by simply batting the ball away.



Yet, all of them went for glory and tried to intercept the ball.    See for yourself.

Serves you right.  You don't have my sympathies.

b)  VVS Laxman retired a few weeks ago and it hasn't sunk in yet.  I am still not in the mood to write my eulogy but am getting ready for it.  Until then, here are two must-read articles about the good guy of Indian cricket.

First, Peter Roebuck is no longer here to write about VVS, but when he did (in the aftermath of 281) it was fantastic.  Poetry in prose.

As Laxman took guard he found himself surrounded by the din of the crowd and the biting resolution of his gum-chewing, green-capped opponents near at hand. Habitually, he cuts an impressive and impassive figure upon which hostility falls like raindrops upon a bear. He stood his ground.

Laxman was about to play the innings of a lifetime, one of the greatest knocks the game has known. His effort has not shrunk in retrospect for it was not a mere protest against fate but rather a purposeful pursuit of an impossible dream.

Second, check out Siddhartha Vadyanathan's piece, not so much for what he wrote but for some of the videos link to in the comments section.

c)  If you are a famous sportsperson, maybe even the best ever in your sport, winning a match is not the end of your day's work.  Here's Roger Federer's grueling post-match interview schedule.  I used to wish I could play like him.  Now I don't, for I do not want to have to do all the additional things that come with that gift.

d)  Roger Federer is the Most Interesting Man in the World.  Stay thirsty, my friends.

e)  Very rarely do I burst out laughing when I read a straight-forward sports article about how someone can help Tiger Woods get his game back on track.  But this one did.  Johnny Miller is soooo modest, it makes me blush to hear about all the great things he has to say about....himself.

Bonus: Here's Johnny's unvarnished thoughts from a different article:

The drive I hit on the last hole at Oakmont in 1973 at the U.S. Open was special. I'd hit every green that day, and my average birdie putt was about 10 to 12 feet. To this day, I've never seen a major championship round of that precision, with tee shots and iron shots, by anyone. That sounds like bragging, but I've seen a lot of rounds. 

f) If you have a few minutes, take a look at some of the photographs submitted to National Geographic for the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest 2012.  Which is your favorite one?

g)  And finally, one last look as VVS walks off into the sunset.  A big part of cricket's allure died that day.

(Copyright 2011, AFP)

Dear VVS

Dear VVS,

I will write a longer letter later when I have more time.  I have a lot to say but this is not the time to say it.

I just heard that you were contemplating retirement because you were "visibly hurt by the comments that by continuing to play for India (you were) blocking the chances of youngsters".  The next two Tests against New Zealand may be the last I'll see from start to to end.

I don't blame you for this decision and, while it hurts to see you go like this, I am in favor of it.  I'd rather you leave on your terms than be ushered an unseemly exit by a bunch of folks who seem to make decisions, in the words of some, based on popularity rather than practicality.

But I DO have a request of you - please retire ONLY from international cricket.  Please continue to play at all first-class levels.  I'd like to see you turn out for the Ranji Trophy and, maybe, a stint for an English county (Lancashire would LOVE to have you back).  You have a lot of batting left based on the recent centuries you've scored in domestic matches in the last month and by playing at the Ranji level you can continue to give upcoming players a chance to see what a world-class player is all about.  Further, the bowling stocks are so lousy, this is probably your best shot at winning that elusive Ranji Trophy for Hyderabad.

You are contemplating retirement not because your love for the game has diminished but because you are seeing some ugly writing on the wall.  Please don't confuse one with the other.  Play on until you don't want to any more.  Otherwise you'll end up regretting hanging up your boots too soon like some of your peers.

Listen to your heart, not your head, on this one.  Please.  For cricket's sake.

Sincerely
Jaunty Q

A tale of two chases

I give you two scenarios:

A)  The #1 ranked team in the world is playing the #7th ranked team.  The #1 team has 47 overs to chase 180 runs to win on the 5th day of the Test match.

B)  The #4 ranked team in the world is playing the same #7 ranked team.  The #4 team has about 50 overs to chase 192 to win on the 5th day of the Test match.

One of the teams won the match and the other drew the match.  Which was which?

Team A was India in the West Indies last year.  Team B was Australia in the West Indies yesterday. India settled for the draw despite losing just 3 wickets (with Laxman, Dravid, Dhoni, and Kohli still not out)., Australia chased the win, not letting up even though they lost 7 wickets along the way.

A year later, the botched Indian chase (and its farcical end) still stings.  Yes, it helped preserve India's #1 ranking but it also betrayed a safety-first mindset that came back and bit the Indian team really badly on the next two away tours to England and Australia.  MS Dhoni's timid captaincy shocked me and, in my mind, he has never shaken that tag since then. The seeds for the winter of discontent had been sown a few weeks earlier, but the weeds began to flourish on that sad day in the Windies.

It would not surprise me one bit if Australia continued to climb the rankings and overtake India in the near future.  They deserve to because they play to win.

If you do not fear failure, success will soon follow in your wake.

Georgie Porgie

Here's Darren Sammy's take on how the recent Test series against India played out:

"In India, where teams don't go there and win, we went out and played and dominated India in two out of three Test matches. "

Darren Sammy

Are you reading this MS Dhoni?  Are your teammates in the Test team listening?  India won the 3-Test series 2-0 and the third one was an insane "draw" where the scores were level at the end!!  But Darren Sammy thinks that the Windies "dominated India in two out of three Test matches."

Do you know the sad thing, Masada?  Coming as the series did, sandwiched in between two 0-4 drubbings, I had to think for a few minutes before remembering how the series against the Windies played out.

More importantly, does it even matter to you that a vanquished opponent is now revising past history and no one even cares to remember that it was probably otherwise?  Do you care?

Oh wait, I forgot, you have more important matters to attend to...

Why do I even bother?

Cold dishes

365 day ago (or was it 366?) was the last time I cried.  One year removed from that day, it is hard to imagine that I may be crying for an altogether different reason.  What a price to pay!

The world has turned upside down and, yet, there is reason for hope.  New Zealand will be here for a tour, followed by England, before Australia comes back to face the music as promised by the miserable tourists when they were being pummeled by Australia.

But before that is the beast that needs to be fed, the IPL.  May the best team win.  I would rather watch Sri Lanka and England battle it out.

When when became if and then became when

In my head, I have written and re-written this piece multiple times.  I cannot do any more editing.  What follows is exactly what I feel about Sachin Tendulkar's 100th 100.  If the thoughts are jumbled and disorganized it is because that's how they are in my head.

CricInfo's headline at the end of the Indian inning today was: Tendulkar's 100th century takes India to 289.  (Or something similar).  In my mind it actually was - Tendulkar's 100th century restricts India to 289.

Why, oh why, could he have not done this in the tour of West Indies, which he skipped?  Why, oh why?!!  For the want of a nail, a kingdom was lost.

For all his posturing about not caring about the milestone, it was blatantly obvious that he did.  If you believe him, then I own a statue of a lady in New York that I want to sell to you.

I woke up at 3am with a "premonition".  If India was batting, this was the day.  I am an unabashed admirer of VVS Laxman, but I am a fan of SRT when he bats like was born to bat.  For brief periods today, that SRT came to the fore.  When he did, I smiled.

I have a feeling we are going to see a couple more years of SRT.  No reason why he cannot continue playing.  He is still among the best batsmen in the world.  With no clauses.

Surf's up: Random musings - 6

Trolling through the web I often come across things that I file away for future (posting) reference. Here are some of the ones that still seem interesting enough to pass on to you.

a) An oldie, but a goldie. Do you want to know why Test cricket is dying (i.e. why spectators are not turning up to watch it any more?)? Well, look no further - it's the spectators who are to blame.

b)  Who says cricket is a batsman's game?  Here's some food for thought - Over 2,000 players have played Test cricket.  As of December 2011, a debutant has taken 5 wickets in an inning on 143 occasions.  In contrast, in spite of many more opportunities, only 93 debutants have scored a 100.

c) I can't really say much more than repeat the title of the link: High Speed Liquid and Bubble Photographs by Heinz Maier.  Wow!

d) Tring, tring.  Click clack.  Ka-ching.  Some of the sounds your kids will never hear in their lifetime.

e)  Which batsman and bowler has the highest rating - ever - in the history of Test cricket?  Check out #3 on the bowler's list.  He was the first bowler who scared me even though I was just watching him bowl on TV. The #1 on the Batting list is not a surprise, but see where Sachin Tendulkar's highest-ever rating places him on the all-time list.

f)  I know a picture is worth a 1000 words, but this picture being worth $4.3 million is simply ludicrous.  Why, oh why, is it worth that much?

g) I don't think I will ever have the guts to take this ride.  But, it does not stop me from living it vicariously.



h) And if you liked the previous one, you may like this one, too:



i) And, finally, I was debating whether to end with this picture, or this picture, or this picture or this picture.  But instead I settled for the one reproduced below.  I hope it is of Laxman tying his shoelaces for future battles, not of him getting ready to hang up his boots (more on that in a different post).

(Associated Press - 2012, via CricInfo)