I have watched a few of the matches in the World Cup; bits and pieces of about 50% of them; major bits of about 25% and all the India matches except the second inning of the most recent game against Ireland.
From listening to the commentators this is what I have learned or realized:
Shane Warne: According to him - the best way to win a game at any point in time is to bowl a spinner, preferably a leg-spinner. Leg-spinners, no matter how filthy their bowling, are the best wicket-taking options in the world. Bar none. A pitch is magnificent no matter how many runs it leads to. Awwww.....is a new word that we should all learn to use in our daily lives.
Sunil Gavaskar: If a batsman is near a milestone, our man will sniff it out in a heartbeat. You can tell a lot about his mentality from the way he appreciates milestones, game situation be damned. Also, he has a curious habit of making a joke, explaining it, and then repeating the joke again for emphasis just in case we had forgotten it.
Sanjay Manjrekar: I actually like the guy and the insight he brings in each of his stints. He picks up a hatke point of view. Unfortunately, he will then spend the next 15 minutes beating it into the ground by repeatedly pointing it out. Glenn Maxwell was at the crease in a recent match en route to his first ODI century. Manjrekar stated early on that Maxwell is an atypical batsman in that he does not play the ball or the bowler but instead frames his batting based on the type of field being set. Brilliant point. And then, for the rest of the session this lesson was drummed into our senses with each Maxwell hit. I was hoping for further insight into how captains could counter that strategy or bowlers could plan and make Maxwell hit into areas he is less comfortable (or would take more risks) hitting to. I am still waiting for that.
Kiwi commentators:All the Kiwi commentators have been excellent so far. Treating the game with respect, discussing strategy, pointing out the good (and bad) things players are doing, and staying quiet when needed and letting the crowd shots tell the story at times. (Luckily I have not heard Danny Morrison so far).
Channel 9 commentators: Back-slapping, inside-joke telling, laughing out loud once-every-minute, Aussie propaganda stumping. All of these are what I have (unfortunately) come to expect from them. They are rah-rah boys of the worst kind. They often don't even know who the opposing players are and sometimes will (shockingly) admit it. How can they not research the 22 players on the field before beginning their stint? How can the producers of the show let them get away with displaying such ignorance?
Mark Taylor: Special mention - he hasn't met a non-Aussie name that he hasn't mangled. I cannot fathom how he neither cares nor tries to pronounce players names correctly. That is just rude and inconsiderate and unbecoming of someone who, at times, has insightful things to say, especially related to strategy and game plans.
Rameez Raja: Like Ravi Shastri, he has about 10 stock phrases that he uses in varying patterns. Has not done much research for years and it feels as if the only cricket he watches or follows is the little bit he sees when he is commentating.
There are others, plenty of them. If you are interested shoot me their names and I will tell you what I think of them.
"Needs to bowl in the right areas."
"It's all happening out there."
"What they need are a couple of quick wickets."
"What they need are some partnerships."
"That went like a tracer bullet."
"They wont mind giving up the single."
South Africa had a fabulous chance to wipe India completely out of the series by batting for time. For most of the afternoon they did just that and then, in one manic session, they threw it all away, opening the door for an Indian comeback.
This is a running diary that I will keep updating periodically with random thoughts as and when they occur during the day's play of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka being played at Mumbai (December 2-6, 2009). I shall keep it in chronological order so the latest additions will be at the tail end of the diary. Also, since this is being done on the fly, excuse the spelling and grammatical mistakes.
10:00pm: Sri Lanka will hope to get to 400 if it can today. Muttaiah Muralitharan is not expected to last much longer, realistically speaking, so it is up to Angelo Mathews to do most of the damage. What is also of interest is whether he can reach a century, having gone to bed on 86.
10:07pm: Oooh..close. Sreesanth gets Mathews to edge just short of second slip. To add insult, it races away to the third man fence. Sreesanth decides to try to do it himself now and promptly gives up 6 more runs. Mathews eases to within a boundary of a well-deserved century.
10:12pm: I am speechless. Mathews, who seemed to have all the time in the world since the Indians were not even trying to get him out, has just run himself out going for the second run. I think he has. He pull-hooked a short-pitched ball from Sreesanth to the deep where the prowling Sachin Tendulkar (SRT) fired in a typical Sachin throw - flat, hard, and right to the keeper. MS Dhoni collects the ball and hits the wickets. There are three angles for the 3rd umpire to look at. Would you believe it? The square-leg umpire is obscuring a part of the first one, the slip fielder is blocking the second angle and the keeper is partially blocking the third angle. Incredible. You couldn't script this with any more drama. The composite picture of all three suggests that Mathews is out. Oh dear...the only thing saving him would be the "inconclusive evidence" clause. But it looked out to me. And the 3rd umpire agrees. Mathews is cruelly run-out on 99. Poor guy.
10:13pm: Chanaka Welegedara hits the first ball he faces to the straight boundary, and his batting suggests that Mathews should not have panicked and tried to get to his century so hastily. This man looks like he knows how to hold the bat.
10:22pm: Well, Pragyan Ojha wraps up the innings. After conceding a boundary to a Welegedara shimmy, he traps him LBW right in front of leg-stump. Third wicket for Ojha and Sri Lanka is all out for 393 in 94.4 overs.
The Indian innings will start shortly. Murali Vijay and Virender Sehwag will be relieved they did not have to wait too long to get to bat today.
10:40pm: Welegedara begins by making Vijay play every ball, giving up a flick for four off the 4th ball to get the Indian innings going. No looseners for him. Are you paying attantion, Zaheer Khan? The last ball is gently nudged away for a single to cover and India are on their way. Over gaaji, Mr. Vijay.
5 for no loss in 1 over.
10:45am: A simple forward push from Vijay fetches three runs off Nuwan Kulasekara. No swing for the Sri Lankan bowlers so far. Three slips, a gully, and a forward short-leg for Sehwag. Over there in New Zealand Umar Akmal is at it again, thwarting another Kiwi push. Simple push by Sehwag takes him off the mark. Murali Vijay counters with another triple to deep square-leg and regains strike for the third over. Super over gaaji. Brilliant.
10:50am: Vijay continues from where he left off against the Aussies, simply pushing to covers and getting Sehwag on strike. Sangakkara is not bothering with deep fielders on the off-side. Thank you!!!! Attack, sir, attack. And that is what he is doing, with a short mid-off for the first time this series. Sehwag just beats him and gets three to end the over and keep strike. "Over gaaji that," he says to Vijay!
16 for no loss in 3 overs, Vijay on 12, Sehwag on 4.
10:55pm: Sehwag greets Kulasekara with a four to midwicket.The next ball is a b-e-a-u-t-y, beating his prod outside the off-stump. The first ball to really swing in this innings so far. Sehwag plays out the rest of the over with a straight bat.
10:59pm: Vijay edges short of slip and the ball goes between first and second slip (rolling along the ground) for a four to third man. The next ball is dropped to short cover and a quick single is taken. Vijay is batting in Gambhir mode and that is good news for Sehwag, who likes to keep moving, even if it is for runs for his partner. Sehwag flicks the next ball to deep square-leg and the duo pinch a quick two. The bounce is to Sehwag's liking here. The ball is bounced over his shoulder and he thinks about an upper cut and changes his mind. He should have gone for it, the umpire signals a front-foot no-ball. Cracking square-cut, stopped by Dilshan. "That was hit like a tracer bullet," intones Shastri (in my head, not on TV).
28 for no loss in 5 overs, Vijay on 17, Sehwag on 10.
11:05am: The last time this duo opened for India, they put on 98 and 116 runs for the first wicket in the two innings. Vijay looks like he fits at this level. On Indian pitches, at least. Sweet, sweet front foot cover drive. For no run but sweet-looking shot. Nice footwork from the young man. A backfoot punch now fetches him a single as the short cover fielder dives and stops a boundary. Sehwag plays a front foot punch to the same bowler.
30 for no loss in 6 overs, Sehwag on 11, Vijay on 18.
11:11pm: Sehwag is just 34 runs away from 6,000 Test runs. Make that 33, as he does his typical flick-pull to deep square-leg for a single. Welegedara is bowling on the off-stump now and gives up just that single in the over. It is hard to believe, considering the score, but the batsmen have been very cautious, with the runs coming off "proper cricketing shots".
By the way, I jinxed Umar Akmal. Shortly after I talked about him earlier, he got out to Darryl Tuffey and Pakistan are doing what they do best - get into a tight spot before counterattacking.
11:17pm: Kulasekara bowls a short one and Sehwag calmly pulls to deep square-leg for an easy single for him. Vijay plays the next ball from off-stump to square-leg. Careful, young paduan, careful. Play with a straight bat for now.
11:19pm: Sunil Gavaskar (SMG) helpfully reminds the viewers that Sehwag is 30 runs short of 6,000 runs, Tendulkar is 83 short of 13,000 runs, Laxman is 145 short of 7,000 runs, and ZAK is 104 runs away from 1,000 runs. Who needs a Milestone Watch when Sunny is around. Wow. By the way, Welegedara is bowling to the best field that Sangakkara has placed for Sehwag this whole series - two slips, gully point, short cover, cover, and mid-off. No folks on the deep. So Sehwag, naturally, swings freely and drills it through cover for a four. Keep the same field, Sangakkara. Be patient. Sehwag drives it straight down the ground now, stopped on the run by mid-off, limiting the damage to a single. It wont be too much longer before we see Murali bowl, I am sure. The opening bowlers are not doing much to influence the batsmen into mistakes. Very similar to the way the Sri Lankan innings began.
India 41 for no loss in 9 overs. Both batsmen on 20. Rangana Herath coming on to bowl now after a drinks break. "About 35 minutes to go for lunch," reminds SMG. Surely, he does not want the batsmen to play for lunch?
11:27am: Sehwag waltzes down the pitch and deposits Herath for a six over long-on. The man is irrepressible. The next ball is punched in the air to deep cover and gets two more runs. The field is starting to spread and he casually pads away to square-leg for an easy single. 50 run partnership between the duo, the third in three tries for them. Good job.
11:31pm: Welegedara bowls it short and wide and Sehwag steps across the stumps and thumps it (and I mean thumps it) to the point fence. Naturally, the next ball is full and the Delhiwallah calmly punches it straight down the ground to deep mid-on for four. Sangakkara's response is to strengthen the off-side with another square catcher. Yes, I like this new version of the skipper. And Welegedara helps him by bowling just outside the off-stump and Viru watches both balls go by without poking at it.
58 for no loss in 11 overs, Sehwag on 37, Vijay on 20. Sehwag is entering Seh-whack mode. Vijay needs to keep his calm and not try to match him as he will come up a distant second. This is where Gambhir is good. Not letting his partner's mood affect his own batting. Vijay sensibly gets an easy (sharp but easy) single to mid-on. Sehwag punches to long-off for another routine single. Vijay hits a beautiful cover drive for four. Nice, risk-free shot.
65 for no loss in 12 overs. Sehwag on 38, Vijay on 26.
11:42pm: Another wristy flick from Sehwag and he gets an airy-fairy four through midwicket. How many gaps can Sangakkara plug? He puts in a short midwicket now. Following the ball is just playing into Viru's hands.
11:46pm: Edged by Vijay and Mahela was standing up at slip and could not get his fingers under the ball. Gets a single off the last ball of the over and is relieved to be there. Hopefully, this will reinforce his focus.
71 for no loss in 14 overs. Sehwag on 42, Vijay on 28. Over in New Zealand, Pakistan slips to 161 for 6 and Kamran Akmal is batting on 21 in 16 balls. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
11:49pm: Beautiful backfoot square drive by Vijay for four off Kulasekara. He is very light on his feet whether going forward or backward. Deep point now comes into the picture. The exodus has begun.
75 for no loss in 15 overs. Sehwag on 42, Vijay on 32.
11:51pm: 6,000 runs for Sehwag and he gets to it in typical fashion, a slog drive for six over long-on off Herath. What a playa, what a playa! Now that the field has spread, he just taps it to deep midwicket and walks across for a single. Two balls later he repeats the dose for another 50. At one point he was 15 in 33 balls. Now he is on 50 in 54, his last 35 runs coming in 21 balls. His 6,000 runs have been scored at a strike rate of over 80.
84 for no loss in 16 overs. Sehwag on 50, Vijay on 33.
11:57pm: Sangakkara is shielding Murali from the openers as lunch approaches. Kulasekara continues and Vijay settles down, probably playing for lunch. Kulasekara bowls a slower ball that Vijay punches in the air to mid-off, drops well short though.
11:59pm: Murali comes on for the last over before lunch. Sehwag walks down and keeps walking to the non-strikers' end after punching to long-on. The fielder is brought in but Vijay gets a single to him with some quick running. Forward short-leg and slip the only close-in fielders. Sehwag leans back and slices it to point and goes on another walkabout to the other end. Vijay leans forward and ....hmmm...caresses the ball to the cover fence. What a shot to bring up lunch!
92 for no loss in 18 overs at lunch. Gautam Gambhir should count his lucky stars that he has scored 7 centuries in the last 9 Tests (or something like that). Only that purple patch is what is saving him from Vijay taking his spot! Sehwag on 53, Vijay on 38.
Back in 30 minutes. First session to India today.
12:42am: The players are back. This now becomes a test of temperament. Angelo Mathews to open. He was the sole bowler to escape stick in the second Test match. Let's see if he can continue that today. Two slips, short cover, deep point. Sehwag finds deep point and walks across again for a single. Mathews is bowling in the low 120's right now. He gets one ball to jag back in. I suspect it may be the fast off-spinner but cannot tell from the feed I am getting. Two singles in that over until the 5th ball when Sehwag plays a late cut for a four to third man. His gentlest shot of the day. Sublime. He ends the over with a walkabout single to deep point.
Sangakkara has a field for the full ball and all the runs came square of the wicket. Hmmm.
99 for no loss in 19 overs. Sehwag on 59, Vijay on 39.
12:48am: Murali continues in what should be a long spell for him. Bowling wide of the crease and Sehwag walks the ball to long-on for a single to bring up the 100 of the partnership. Gambhir not being missed so far. Sehwag reverse sweeps for four. Not really necessary, Viru. You are getting runs the conventional way. But the man is from another planet altogether.
12:52am: Welegedara is brought in and bowls the first maiden of the innings. Some relief for the visitors. Murali, Mahela, and Sangakkara are discussing the timings for the next flight to Colombo...or they are discussing what to bowl. I suspect it is the latter. Sehwag presses forward and survives a close shout for LBW. Sehwag begins to move his foot out of the way now and thrashes the 4th ball to the cover fence. Sliced it more than drove it to the vacant region. The next ball is smashed past short mid-on to long-on for a walkthrough single.
110 for no loss in 22 overs. Sehwag on 69, Vijay on 40. Vijay is on the cusp of his highest score in Tests. Sehwag is just 250 runs away from his personal best. (Editor's note: I was just joking when I wrote that. Little did I know...)
1:01am: Sehwag launches into a wide ball and smashes it to cover-point and the sweeper does not move. Welegedara responds by beating Sehwag on the backfoot defense. Good comeback. Chagrined by that experience he lets the next two balls go with a raised bat. The horror! In countless homes around the country mothers cover their kids' eyes. The fifth ball is in the same corridor but Viru has had enough. He leans forward and pushes it to point for a single. And Vijay repeats it to reach 41. Just like that, another no-fuss 6 run over.
1:05am: Vijay dances down to Murali and pats the ball back. Predictably Murali pitches it shorter and Vijay flicks it for a single. Short outside the off-stump and Sehwag just pushes it to point for a four. With a 3-6 field (cover, slip, and long-off) there are wide open spaces for Seh-whack to exploit on the off-side when Murali pushes one through outside the off-stump.
Sangakkara, if I were you I would bring in Tillakaratne Dilshan to bowl. You want Sehwag to take risks and he will not respect Dilshan enough to play him properly. Opportunities will be created for sure. (Editor's note: Reader, please mark the time - 1:05am - when I made this remark).
1:10am: Welegedara sees Murali Vijay on strike and bounds in with an eye on the maiden. Instead he bowls a wide half-volley and Vijay sends it to the cover fence. The cover drive is easily his most pleasing shot. The next ball is a good bouncer and Vijay sways out of the way, dropping his wrists. Great technique. The way he came into the squad may have been slightly off-putting but he looks like a great find for India. Reinforcing the first impression he created last year against Australia.
125 for no loss in 25 overs. Sehwag on 78, Vijay on 56.
1:14am: Murali is starting to turn the ball a great deal. He flights the ball this time and Sehwag dances down and gets his third six of the innings. Picture perfect step down and hit. Does it again and a splendid dive at mid-off restricts it to a single. Vijay dances down and flicks to deep midwicket for a single to go over gaaji again.
India 133 for no loss in 26 overs. Sehwag on 85, Vijay on 47.
1:20am: After defending 5 balls, Vijay takes a single off the last ball of the over again! Maybe this is a plan of Sangakkara's to frustrate Sehwag. If it is, it actually might have a chance.
1:22am: Sehwag must exude some nasty body odor. As soon as he comes on strike the fielders spread as far away from him as possible! He smartly takes a single that is offered. Murali Vijay dances down and hits the biggest six of the day so far, even more emphatic than Sehwag's trio to bring up his first 50 in Tests. Now he needs to consolidate and keep going on and not throw it away like Tharanga did. Vijay ends another over with a last ball single.
143 for no loss in 28 overs. Sehwag on 86, Vijay on 55.
1:26am: Welegedara continues. His agenda seems to be to keep Vijay on strike. Is that only until the last ball? Let's see. The fifth ball is on the pads and that Indian specialty, the drive-flick to midwicket is unfurled. Four more runs and one ball to go. Nope, defends the ball and Sehwag is on strike to the first ball of an over after what seems like 1400 years.
148 for no loss in 29 overs. Sehwag on 86 and Vijay on 59.
1:32am: Two simple singles to the leg side and the 150 is up. They have each played 90 balls so far in the innings. Nice distribution in spite of the over-gaajiness of Vijay, which must be an illusion then. Hah! Even as I write that, Vijay cuts Murali away to third man and scampers 3 runs to retain strike!!
1:34am: Kulasekara comes in to the attack bowl. First ball, majestic front foot cover drive on the up by Vijay for a four. SRT would have been proud of that one. Kulasekara responds with a slower ball. ODI mode for the Sri Lankans now. Oh dear! Another off-cutter and Vijay plays early and loops it to mid-on where Herath dives forward (unnecessarily, I thought) and the ball hits him on the forearm and goes away for three runs. Shastri notices that Sehwag has been off-strike for a while. Sehwag responds as only Sehwag does - with a crushing drive to the cover fence. THAT was a tracer bullet-like hit, Shastri. Sehwag wades into the 90's now.
167 for no loss in 31 overs. Sehwag on 92, Vijay on 70.
1:40am: Herath comes on for the last over before drinks. Sehwag is shadow batting and he is practicing jumping down the wicket and hitting over the top! Vijay on strike, though, and he steps back to cut to deep cover for an easy single to get Sehwag on strike. The crowd is alive and Sehwag defends. Five fielders on the fence for Herath and Sehwag still finds the room to step down and drive the ball straight down for a four to take us to drinks. Seriously!
172 for no loss in 32 overs. India scored 80 runs in 14 overs in this hour. Sehwag on 96, Vijay on 71. (43 for Sehwag and 33 for Vijay in that hour).
By the way, according to his CricInfo profile Vijay did not start playing cricket seriously until he was 17 years old. He is 25 now, just FYI.
1:50am: SMG on air advocates for there to be no restriction on bouncers in an over, feeling that it should be left to the umpires to decide if it is intimidatory in nature. As he says that Vijay hits the best shot of the day so far, a picture perfect straight drive to the fence. And that's saying something since the Indians have hit plenty of beautiful shots.
1:54am: Vijay hits another gorgeous cover drive off Herath and finds the fence. This is so eerily like Gambhir's scoring pattern. As Sehwag's boundaries have been restricted by the field, Vijay has upped the rate and raced into the 80's. He is just 16 runs from Sehwag now.
183 for no loss in 34 overs. Sehwag on 97 Vijay on 81.
1:57am: Murlai comes on to stop Sehwag from getting to a century. Wide outside the offstump and Sehwag misses out! No run. And hundred #17 comes up for Viru. He gets to it with a boundary (surprise! surprise!), a drive behind the keeper to a ball wide outside leg-stump to the fine-leg boundary. 100 in 100 balls. Strike rate of.....hmmm...need a calculator for that.
188 for no loss. Sehwag on 102, Vijay on 82.
Gavaskar says that the three most thankless jobs in cricket are that of a selector, umpire, and wicket-keeper. Hard to argue with that.
2:03am: Trailing by 393 runs in the first innings, just 35.4 overs into the innings India has avoided the follow-on with Sehwag slog sweeping Herath for a huge six to cow corner. Easy as that.
198 for no loss. Sehwag on 110, Vijay on 83.
2:06am: Vijay is still helmeted while Sehwag has settled into his India cap. Murali tosses it up outside the off stump and Sehwag dismisses it one bounce to deep cover. The 200 of the partnership comes up in the 37th over. Good even by ODI standards. Dilshan saves a boundary diving away to his left at cover. The same place where he caught Sehwag in the previous Test.
2:08am: Sehwag, the fashinista, now switches to a white floppy hat. Sehwag hits Herath onto the second tier of the pavilion with a man on long-on searching for it as if it were the space shuttle in orbit. Phew. Now there are 6 fielders on the boundary and Herath goes over the wicket. Sehwag reverse sweeps for a boundary! No fielder at third man. Easy as that for the magnificent maverick of modern cricket.
Somewhere in Delhi, Gambhir is packing his bags, cutting short his holiday, as the partnership reaches 214. Sehwag is on 124, Vijay on 85.
2:13am: Vijay just punches to mid-off and scampers through for a single. Sehwag thumps it to long-on for a single. The ball is jetting off his blade now. Vijay flicks a single to deep midwicket. Too easy. Time to mix it up with some move out of left-field. Wide outside the leg stump and Sehwag repeats the shot that fetched him his century and another boundary results.
221 for no loss in 39 overs. Sehwag on 129, Vijay on 87.
2:16am: The curse of 87 strikes! Vijay tries to sweep a ball that was almost yorker length and is out LBW. As plumb as it gets. This is the first sweep he has attempted all day. Bad time to change his mode of batting. Unfortunate dismissal. That was the carrom ball that Herath bowls.
Dravid comes in as usual with India under pressure with score at 221. How will he bat? Can he keep Sehwag warm and on strike? Sri Lanka still keeps a deep point. Sheesh. When was the last time they saw Dravid play? At least they do have a silly point in place, too. Not surprisingly, Dravid plays out a wicket maiden. Deep point still contemplates the meaning of life out near the boundary.
221 for 1 in 40 overs. Sehwag on 129, Dravid on 0. The slog over phase of ODI's are at hand now. I wish someone would remind Sehwag that he can bat like this in ODI's, too.
2:22am: Perplexingly, Kulasekara comes back to bowl, replacing Murali. This was a good time to get Murali to settle into a rhythm bowling to Dravid. Sehwag greets Kulasekara with a two bounce thump to the midwicket fence. Welcome, sir, my name is Viru. To Nuwan's relief Sehwag gets a single off the next ball only to see Dravid guide it to third man for a single. Sehwag then walks a single to deep cover. This is about the only defective part of Sehwag's game. He "walks" so many runs without grounding his bat that he is often scurrying to quickly put his bat down in time if an alert fielder throws at the stumps very quickly. Here's an example that involves Sangakkara doing it to Sehwag:
2:30am: Dravid is taking his time settling in, as he usually does and Sehwag is getting antsy. A reverse sweep, a step outside legstump to try to drive inside out to cover fetch singles and indicate his wish to get on with it.
2:31am: Luckily for Sehwag, Kulasekara gives him a short ball outside off-stump and the sentinels outside the third man boundary throw the ball back. Satiated by the boundary, Sehwag now walks a single to long-on. Dravid, who is batting on 2 runs in 12 balls, is batting to a slip, a cover and a mid-off with two fielders deep in the off-side. Ugh! Easy punch to deep cover for a single and Sehwag is back on strike. Sehwag is stretching his back and decides to thump it, just clearing mid-on for another boundary to get to 146 and then hits it along the ground for a single. His back is definitely bothering him. Eight minutes to tea. Dravid now gets into the act with his trademark flick-drive through midwicket for four. (Editor's note: Sehwag was in the 140's when his back started to bother him. Imagine what he did with a hurting back the rest of the way.)
246 for 1 in 43 overs. Sehwag in 147, Dravid on 7.
Sehwag has faced 125 balls for his 147 now. Since he took 100 balls for his 100, you know his scoring rate since then.
2:35am: Sehwag has adopted a Shiv Chanderpaul stance to protect his back which is hurting him very badly. Does not stop him from reverse sweeping. Would you believe it, they have a fielder deep for that shot now? Not only is Sangakkara anticipating Sehwag's shots he is adjusting for his novelty strokes, too! Dravid hits as sweet an inside-out drive as Vijay hit for a single. The medical staff gets ready to come on to treat Sehwag who takes the easy single on offer on the leg-side.
249 for 1 in 44 overs. Sehwag on 149, Dravid on 8.
2:38am: Seeing Sehwag limping, Murali comes back to add to his 10-0-63-0 figures. Last over before tea. Sehwag flicks to long-on for the 12th score of 150 of above in his career (out of 17 centuries). The world record is 19 (SRT) for a career. 150 in 130 balls. The man scores big, big centuries in a matter of factly way. Walks another single to long-on now as Murali is finding it hard to stop the runs with the spread out field. Dravid steps back and punches it past cover for a four. Murali is taking a beating here. He must be thanking his stars Sri Lanka only plays 3 Test series. Another ball outside the off-stump and Dravid cuts it to deep point for a four. That's tea and India has scored 168 runs in that session. Murali trudges off with 11-0-74-0 to his name. Ouch!
260 for 1 in 45 overs. Sehwag on 151, Dravid on 17. A short break now. I will be back in about 20 minutes.
3:03am: Sehwag starts off by jumping down and hitting inside out over cover for a four. Welcome back Herath. The next ball chipped to long-on for another single. Herath is bowling from over the wicket wide outside the leg stump to Sehwag.
266 for 1 in 46 overs. Sehwag on 1656, Dravid on 18.
3:07am: Welegedara gets the short end of the other straw and is picked to bowl. Starts off by letting Dravid glide to point for a single. Welegedara bowls a bouncer. The perfect ball to a batsman with a stiff back. Now he walks down the wicket and smashes it over point for a thumping four. And right on cue, for the first time in the series, Shastri unfurls the tracer bullet. Another bouncer, another duck. Good stuff from Welegedara. Two for the over, cautions the umpire. Content in the knowledge that there are no more bouncers coming, Sehwag moves forward and bludgeons the ball over the cover fence for a six. Phew!
278 for 1 in 47 overs. Sehwag on 166, Dravid in 19. 35 overs still left in the day.
3:13am: Herath almost yelps with joy seeing Dravid on strike. Keeps him quiet for the entire over and gives up only a single off the last ball. Dravi goes over gaaji now. One less ball (at least) for Sehwag to face, thinks Sangakkara.
3:17am: Welegedara continues to build on the Herath foundation, keeping Dravid quiet for 5 balls. Surely, the best strategy would be to give a single to Dravid. Let's see. Dravid drops it and sets off wanting a run and Sehwag ignores him as it was hit straight to a fielder and there was no run there. Sri Lanka's putative plan is thwarted!
3:20am: Sehwag thumps it to long-on for a single. Dravid plays inside out and gets Sehwag back on strike. What will Jatman do? Steps outside leg stump and simply chips it for another run walk. Dravid punches for a single after dancing down to reach the ball. Another walk to long-on for Viru. Five singles in the over.
284 for 1 in 50 overs. Sehwag on 169, Dravid on 22. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka this is not an ODI and India continues to bat past the 50 over mark. Sri Lankans are taking their own sweet time, probably figuring the fewer overs they bowl while Sehwag is there, the better it is. Not a bad idea. The worst thing that can happen is that the ICC will take away some pocket money from the captain. Surely he can afford it.
Tom Alter is in the house!
3:25am: Welegedara is bowling it far away from Viru, trying to get him to reach for it. Sehwag is not interested at all for the first three balls. The fourth is a very good yorker that is dug away and the fifth ball yields the only run of the over. Welegedara and Herath are on fire here! The last 24 balls have yielded only 7 singles. Something's gotta give.
3:28am: Sehwag shimmies down the wicket and drives Herath to long-on for a single. Dravid shows Vijay how to play the sweep shot and smashes it to the square-leg boundary.
290 for 1 in 52 overs. Sehwag on 171, Dravid on 26.
3:33am: Welegedara bowls to a 7-2 field and Sehwag walks across the stumps, exposing all three and flicks it to the midwicket fence. That first morning when Welegedara reduced India to 32 for 4 is like a distant, distant memory now. India trail by less than 100 runs, just 53 overs into the innings. Mind-boggling. The run rate is 5.58. In a Test match!
3:37am: Dravid cuts Herath past point to bring up India's 300. This is Dravid's other trademark shot (the first one being the drive-flick through midwicket). Cannot feed him there, Rangana. Dravid chunters away to 32 in 50 balls.
3:38am: Welegedara's day gets longer as Sehwag slams him through extra cover for four to start the over. Then takes a single and rests at the non-striker end.
308 for 1 in 55 overs. Sehwag on 182, Dravid on 33. Sri Lanka lobbies for a ball change and their request is granted. I bet SRT has already told the nightwatchman to pad up. Who will it be? Amit Mishra is not in the squad.
3:51am: Welegedara pulls up lame and is returning to the pavilion. Sri Lanka may be forced to go to Dilshan by accident now. I am telling you that move will work. No, Kuasekara comes in instead. Welegedara probaby wants to avoid scoring a century today. Sehwag is not batting fluently now. He is reaching for the balls and not connecting well. The back is certainly an issue. Still does not stop him from creaming a boundary to the point fence through the two deep fielders there. He repeats the feat on the leg-side, bisecting square-leg and midwicket. Into the 190's. Third ball is flicked to fine leg for another boundary. The next ball is inner-edged and Sehwag gets a Dhoni double to the square-leg umpire to reach 198. Will he hit a six to get to 200? No, he slog-drives over midwicket to get to it with a four. 18 runs in 5 balls to go from 184 to 202. WHAT A PLAYER!! His 6th double century in Tests. Another one hit at a strike rate of over 200.
200 in 168 balls, strike rate of over 120. India 330 for 1 in 57 overs. Sehwag on 202, Dravid on 35. Second-fastest 200 in Test history.
By the way, NO ONE has mentioned this on TV yet: another century partnership for Dravid, the 80th in Tests for the world record holder.
4:03am: Sangakkara turns to Murali. Dravid almost hits a boundary but Mathews saves three runs. Sehwag survives a very close shout for LBW.
4:06am: Sehwag reverse sweeps Herath for another boundary and then punches to long-off for another walk. Sehwag is on course to be the first man to get to three triple centuries.
4:12am: Sehwag goes inside-out for another four over cover and repeats it next ball to bring up the 350. By the way, Herath is bowling about 2 feet outside the leg-stump and Sehwag is taking a stance about a foot outside leg-stump.
Until the Kolkata Test of 2001, Sunil Gavaskar's 236* was like a millstone around an Indian batsman's neck. Once Laxman crossed that mark, it has ceased to worry the batsmen and no one even thinks about that any more. Sehwag himself has crossed it three times and is en route to doing it a fourth time.
4:18am: Sehwag dances down and hits Murali to the roof of the pavilion. The placement of fielders seems irrelevant to him now. Also, he is moving a little better than he was about 15 minutes ago. Maybe the back has loosened up a little.
360 for 1 in 62 overs. Sehwag on 228, Dravid on 39.
4:22am: Angelo Mathews is sighted, coming on to bowl. Has bowled just one over so far, surprisingly. He was the most economical and restrictive bowler in the previous Test. Sehwag content to play him out for a single...until the last ball, when a bouncer from Mathews is upper cut one bounce to third man for another four. 31 fours and 7 sixes for Jatman.
368 for 1 in 63 overs. Sehwag on 233, Dravid on 42. India motoring along at 5.84 runs an over. By the way, by himself Sehwag is motoring along at 3.7 runs per over. I am running out of adjectives.
17 overs still to go today. SMG admits that at about this point in time he probably would have been batting on 70-odd in the same number of balls. Ironically, I don't think he is joking.
4:36am: Sehwag plays two contrasting shots off Murali. A late, late cut for four and then a waltz down the wicket to play an agricultural hoick for a one bounce four over midwicket. Murali about to hit a century in the 16th over for him! And there it is. The last ball single takes Murali to 100 in exactly 16 overs. What a mauling he is receiving.
382 for 1 in 66 overs. Sehwag on 243, Dravid on 46. India trail by...(gulp)...10 runs.
50 singles for Sehwag. That is the understated but extremely important aspect of his batting.
4:40am: Sehwag greets Mathews by smashing a cover drive for four. Brutal shot. Mathews and Sangakkara are indulging in a long chat. Time-wasting tactics, I think. Strategic timeout to disrupt Sehwag's rhythm, thinks SMG.
The TV announcers inform us that Sehwag scored 98 runs in the post-lunch session and in this session, with 50 minutes to go, he has already scored 97 runs. In the morning session he scored just 60 53 runs, and that was because Sri Lanka used up 27 minutes in the morning plus 10 minutes for the change of innings.
389 for 1 in 67 overs. Sehwag on 248, Dravid on 46. India trail by just 4 runs. Another 45 minutes left in the day's play and India has already scored close to 400 runs. Adding the 27 runs Sri Lanka scored this morning, there have been 416 runs already today in 72 overs. Phew!
15 overs to go today and Sri Lanka will barely get 10 in is my guess. Sangakkara will be happy to pick up the fine for slow over rate in return for not letting Sehwag continue to plunder runs.
I have stated this in the past and it bears repeating. Sehwag has the best temperament of any Indian batsman I have seen. If SRT had even a fraction of his temperament he would have been nudging higher milestones today. Sehwag is relentless about collecting runs once he is set and he plays to a plan of his own, completely throwing the oppositions plans to the dust.
4:52: Sehwag reverse sweeps Murali to reach the fastest 250 in Test history (breaking his own record) with that four to third man. Wowza! The scores are level. India Sehwag chased down 393 runs in less than 68 overs, setting the team up for a huge total here. Now a single to deep midwicket and India has the lead.
4:55am: Angelo Mathews pitches it short, Sehwag pushes it away to square-leg for another four. And it was a no-ball to boot. A quick single to mid-on takes India to 400. They scored 417 runs in a day in Kanpur just a few days ago and should overhaul it easily today. Dilshan pretends to misfield the last ball, hoping the duo would take a single to keep Sehwag off strike but they do not oblige him.
400 for 1 in 69 overs. Sehwag on 258, Dravid on 46. India lead by 7 runs.
5:00am: Sehwalk walks down and just chips it over Murali's head and gets a boundary straight back over the bowlers head. By the way, there are no close-in fielders of any sort around Sehwag. Prasanna Jayawardene must be a lonely man.
406 for 1 in 70 overs. Sehwag on 263, Dravid on 46. India lead by 13 runs.
5:06am: Russell Arnold says that in the days leading up to this Test he did not notice any of this aggressive batting in Sehwag's approach at the nets. Siva adds that Sehwag and Gary Kirsten have been spending a lot of time talking in the dressing room. I wonder what Gary could be telling Sehwag to do? Sehwag ends the over with a tired looking glide to the third man fence off Mathews.
412 for 1 in 71 overs Sehwag on 268, Dravid on 47. India lead by 19 runs.
5:09am: Sehwag jumps out to Murali, misses the ball and just barely edges it to third man for four. The man's got to be tired.
419 for 1 in 72 overs. Sehwag on 273, Dravid on 49. India has never scored so many runs in a single day's play (eclipsing the 417 scored in Kanpur in the previous Test) and they have done it in just 72 overs. India lead by 26 runs.
5:12am: Finally, Dilshan comes on to bowl. Dravid is one away from a 50 and he gets it with a simple flick to midwicket. First ball from Dilshan induces the edge from Sehwag and Mahela drops the catch. It hits him on the right hand before rolling away. I don't want to say I told you so, but I did so hours and hours ago when I beseeched Sangakkara to try out Dilshan to shake things up against Sehwag. The next ball he faces is hit off the leading edge. The 200 run partnership between the duo features exactly 50 runs from Dravid.
5:16am: Herath starts off with the perfect leg-spinning ball (off-spin for the left-arm bowler) as it lands in front of Dravid's feet and spins past the off stump. No harm done in the end. Sehwag defends and exchanges a big grin with Dravid. Dravid is still smiling during the mid-pitch between over discussion between the two.
432 for 1 in 74 overs. Sehwag on 277, Dravid on 55. India lead by 39 runs.
5:23am: Look! What do we have here?! A maiden for Herath. As you would have rightly guessed, he got to bowl to Dravid, who obliged him by defending every ball. Also, Sangakkara placed two close-in catchers, at short mid-off and short cover to trap the front foot punches. Playing for close of play, suggests Arnold.
5:25am: Sehwag is playing for the close of play in his own way, punching Dilshan off the backfoot, beating deep cover for a four. A single two balls later takes him past VVS Laxman's 281, an innings that spanned parts of three days. Sehwag has gone past him 3 times in his career now.
438 for 1 in 77 overs. Sehwag on 282, Dravid on 59. India lead by 45 runs. About 5 minutes to go for the close of play.
5:28am: Sehwag dances down and hits it one bounce to long-off for a risky single. Dravid takes two runs off the last ball, running hard even at the very end of the day. Sehwag has been on the field for every minute of the Test so far.
5:30am: Last over of the day coming up, for sure. Sehwag on strike to Murali. Sehwag hits it past the forward short-leg fielder and gets off strike. Surely, Dravid is going to play out this over and let Sehwag stay here till the morning, when he can come back refreshed and rested. Dravid is now portraying the role of the world's most proficient nightwatchman!
183 runs in this session for India in 34 overs. Murali ends the day with figures of 20-0-119-0. Sehwag remains not out on 284 (239 balls), Dravid on 62 (121 balls). India end the day at 443 for 1, a lead of 50 runs. Unimaginable! Incredible ! Unbelievable! 40 fours and 7 sixes for Sehwag. Sehwag scored 133 runs in the last session of play, after notching up 98 in the second one.
The two parnerships for India - 221 and 222*. Viru is also on the verge of another Test record - most runs in sixes and fours in a single innings. He already occupies 4 of the top 9 spots all-time.
Okay, I am tempted to sit down and figure out different ways of presenting how statistically astonishing this batsman is but it is getting to be a long night and I am sure my friends at CricInfo will have something for me by tonight. When they do, I shall link it for you. I shall go and catch a couple of hours of sleep now (if I can after that imperious batting display).
(Editor's note: From CricInfo comes an astounding stat that tells you everything you needed to know about how this Test series has progressed: Muttaiah Muralitharan has now bowled 69 consecutive overs without a maiden.)
This is a running diary that I will keep updating periodically with random thoughts as and when they occur during the day's play of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka being played at Mumbai (December 2-6, 2009). I shall keep it in chronological order so the latest additions will be at the tail end of the diary. Also, since this is being done on the fly, excuse the spelling and grammatical mistakes.
9:45pm: Now that the beast (me) has been well-rested (slept about 5 hours up till now) and well-fed (eating some yummy home-made ginger prawns) it is time to resume this running diary business of mine. I had a premonition that India will be fielding today. Let's see how it plays out.
The stage is set - India is leading 1-0 and needs to win this Test to take up an ephemeral position as the #1 ranked team in the world.
Okay, some ground rules need to be established. I will write about things and thoughts as they happen. I will fall flat with some predictions and strike gold with others. I reserve the right to brag about the latter while ignoring the former. Call it a diarist's prerogative.
9:55pm: Sunil Gavaskar does a really good job of introducing the viewer to the new, refurbished Brabourne stadium. Well done, sir. However, a minor quibble - gushing over Sachin Tendulkar (SRT) by calling him the world's best batsman is a bit much.
9:59pm: Yup, my premonition come true - Sri Lanka wins the toss. Sri Lanka drafts in Nuwan Kulasekara and India brings in Murali Vijay.
10:00pm: Laxman Sivaramakrishnan utters the words that chills me to the bone in fear - "This is going to be a brilliant batting pitch." Why, oh dear, why?!!
10:01pm: Tharanga Paranavitana begins in Sehwagian fashion - a lovely cover drive to the boundary and the run-fest has begun! Zaheer Khan (ZAK) bowls his first (of many, I am sure) no-balls in the series. Dude, bowling's your primary skill in life. How can you still keep bowling no-balls. You need to go and chat to Ranadeb Bose, who has not bowled a front-foot no-ball in his entire career.
10:06pm: ZAK is swinging the ball in and out, but not close enough to the batsman to trouble him just yet. Now it is Sreesanth to bowl to Tillakaratne Dilshan. I fear Dilshan more than any other Sri Lankan batsman right now for the same reason opposing teams fear Virender Sehwag more than they do Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar.
In the first Test I had a regular feature, a Milestone Watch. I need a new angle to keep me interested in between the overs. So, here's the new shtick:
Random Factoid That Not Many Know: Ranadeb Bose has bowled over 18,000 balls in his career without bowling a no-ball.
10:15pm ZAK has bowled 7 balls in this Test and already has bowled 2 no-balls. Tharanga helps himself to another square-driven boundary. Tharanga's scores in his career so far make for interesting reading. In 9 of his 16 innings he has scored between 15 and 50, indicating an ability to get going and then throw it away as he has just 2 fifties in his career. Surely, he needs a big score here to have any shot at a longer stint in Test cricket.
10:21pm: Sri Lanka 13 for no loss in 3 overs.
10:22pm: Sreesanth is getting more movement off the wicket than in the air but not enough so far to trouble either batsman. India has three slips - SRT, VVS Laxman, and Dravid at 1,2, and 3 - for Sreesanth.They also have a third man in place. A big gap at covers (rightly so) and Dilshan drives beautifully through it for four to end the over. Good sign for both teams.
10:25pm: SMG points out that India has not bowled a single bouncer so far, content to bowl up to the batsman inviting the drive. Good pick up. ZAK is settling into his rhythm now but Tharanga is not having any problems picking him up, flicking through (yes through) square-leg for a four. And as I type that, ZAK produces a beauty just beating the outside edge with a prodigious outswinger. Ooof, that was close.
Sri Lanka 25 for no loss in 5 overs, Tharanga 17, Dilshan 6.
10:29pm: If India wants to get to the #1 ranking, this is the way to do it. Let Sri Lanka have the first (and best) use of the wicket and then see if a team that has aspiration for the top spot can overcome that. If they cannot they are not ready to be #1 yet. Murali Vijay shows off his fielding skills on the long-leg boundary, sliding around and converting a boundary into a couple of runs.
10:30pm: Thirty minutes into the day's play, comes the first bouncer. Good bounce good carry, easily negotiated by Tharanga. Follow-up ball is another bouncer from Sreesanth, easily evaded again. Tharanga feasts on the last ball, a yorker and clips it through midwicket for a four.
10:40pm: Sr Lanka moves along serenely to 42 for no loss in 9 overs. Tharanga has raced along to 32, Dilshan on 7. Tharanga looks like he can bat all day, but he has shown this before in this series itself.
10:48pm: Dilshan smashes a bouncer from Sreesanth over long-leg for a huge six. Take that, Mr. Sreesanth. The next ball is also shorter and pulled away emphatically for a four. Sri Lanka wades past 50 in the 10th over.
10:53pm: Oooh, lovely cover drive by Paranavithana and then the last ball fetches 5 overthrows. Sr Lanka motoring along here to 65 for no loss in 11 overs.
10:59pm: Harbhajan Singh on to bowl now with just a slip (Dravid) and a forward short-leg. Grrr... Short mid-off comes in now. Better. Harbhajan is looping it up for now. Tharanga is content to pat him away. Maiden. Tharanga 41, Dilshan 21.
11:14pm: Took a short food break. In the meantime Tharanga moves on to 48, Dilshan to 25, and Sri Lanka to 76 for no loss in 16 overs. Sweet.
11:22pm: This is interesting in that there is just enough for the bowlers but the batsmen are too good right now for it to affect them unduly.
11:23pm: First Pragyan Ojha sighting. Same field as for Economy Singh, a slip and forward short-leg. I find this strange. Until the batsmen show that they are not in any trouble and are willing to attack, I'd keep the fielders hemmed in. Tharanga sweeps fine and gets to his 50. As good a half century as any in the series so far. Serene is the word that comes to mind.
Random Factoid That Not Many Know: The first Indian bowler to take 5 wickets in an ODI on more than one occasion was ..... Krishnamachari Srikkanth! )In fact, Javagal Srinath is the onle other Indian bowler to have taken 5 wickets in an ODI more than once).
11:27pm: Dilshan attacks Ojha, obviously part of a plan to disrupt his bowling and not let him settle into a run-restricting line. Two consecutive shimmies down the wicket for boundaries. Centuries for the taking here for the batsmen.
Sri Lanka 87 for no loss, Tharanga 51, Dilshan 29.
11:30pm: Oh dear! Economy Singh now bowling to three close-in fielders and the rest spread on the boundary for Dilshan. *sigh* You've taken 337 wickets in your career, Economy, Show some guts. Come on, MS Dhoni, force him to be braver.
11:38pm: Tharanga gives it away...edges to Dravid at first slip and Harbhajan Singh has struck. Loose, loose drive and the simplest catch of Dravid's career for sure. Tharanga does it again, poor guy.
93 for 1 in 20 overs. Kumar Sangakkara comes in, Dilshan is on 37.
11:41pm: Ojha reaps the benefit of that wicket with Dilshan playing him cautiously now. By the way, that dismissal by Harbhajan was picture perfect for a left-handed batsman, drawing him forward on the drive and getting the edge to slip. Keep that up, Harbhajan!
11:46pm: Harbhajan bowls a B-E-A-U-T-Y drifting into Sangakkara and then spinning away towards first slip. That turned almost a foot and a half. And in the next over, Ojha does the same thing to Dilshan. Great sight, this. Game on.
11:49pm: Dhoni brings in a backward short-leg for Sangakkara and it nearly pays off, as he flicks on the bounce to him! Over negotiated and the Sri Lankan 100 is on the board, Dilshan on 40.
11:50pm: Harbhajan gets a second slip in place now. Good. Sehwag at mid-off misfields to get Sangakkara a pressure-relieving single.
11:54pm: Sangakkara plays Ojha from the pitch of the ball and dances his way out of the strike. Dilshan prefers to sit back and drive away from his body. The ball takes the outside edge and races past second slip for a four. The rest of the over is played more cautiously by Dilshan with the bat not straying too far from the pads.
11:57pm: Dilshan drives flamboyantly and gets an inner-edge onto the pads on successive balls. Harbhajan is bowling very well here. What a welcome sight. Mutthaiah Miralitharan will enjoy bowling on this pitch, for sure. Dilshan replies by paddle-sweeping successive balls and gets to his 50. Well done. The cat and mouse game continues. Will Harbhajan bring in a leg slip now? Yes, he does. Cool. Dilshan defends on the move.
Sri Lanka 1165 for 1 in 26 overs, Dilshan on 51, and Sangakkara on 9.
12:01am: Ojha is still flighting the ball, unfazed by the runs he has given up so far. Dilshan content to stay in his crease and play him off the backfoot so far in this over. More of the same. The crowd goes berserk as SRT stops the ball at cover and that takes us to lunch.
117 for 1 in 27 overs, Dilshan on 51, Sangakkara on 10. The first session firmly to Sri Lanka. Impressive batting performance so far. Harbhajan 8-1-19-1 and Ojha 6-0-28-0. About right for the session so far based on how the duo have bowled.
I shall take a break now and stretch my fingers. In the meantime I leave you with this:
Random Factoid That Not Many Know: Ricky Ponting has been involved in 91 Test wins for Australia. However he is still the record holder for the highest score made by a batsman in a losing cause. He has lost only 23 out of 137 Tests, of which 10 are against India.
12:42am: Harbhajan to continue after lunch to two slips and a forward short-leg to Sangakkara. Sangakkara is not biting just yet. Must have had a filling lunch. Maiden to start the proceedings.
12:45am: Ojha continues with the same field to Dilshan. Dilshan looks more prepared to use his feet. No runs yet but the will come soon. Fifth ball, he manages to reach the pitch of the ball and drive it to long-off for a singe. Easy does it. Sangakkara's helmet is very wierdly shaped. I hope it never catches on.
12:52am: First really bad ball from Ojha, short outside the off-stump and Sangakkara helps himself to his first boundary. Sangakkara then steps down the wicket and drives it nicely past midwicket for another boundary. Is he on the move now? NO! Ojha gets him to flick on the leg-side to MS Dhoni, who takes a sharp, smart catch!
Sangakarra fails again in India. Out for 18, his highest score in India remains 44. Sri Lanka 128 for 2 in 31 overs, Dilshan still hanging around on 54. Mahela Jayawardene to the crease. Nice spin for Ojha.
12:56am: Better field for Harbhajan. Forward and backward short-leg along with a slip. Dilshan still manges to get through them for a single. Mahela plays away the rest of the over.
1:02am: Ojha is bowling well now, troubling Mahela beating him with a couple of sharply-spinning balls.
1:08am: Dilshan beaten by Ojha with a beauty, neither forward nor back, and the ball is edged between the two slips for a four. Oooh, close! Had VVS stayed low he could have caught it. Lately, he has been rising up in his stance as the ball is bowled. Another edge, this time off Mahela, but it lands safely before it reaches second slip.
142 for 2 in 35 overs, Dilshan on 64, Mahela on 4.
1:10am: Harbhajan shifts to round the wicket to the two right-handers with the two leg-side close-in catchers. Dilshan prefers to play him off the backfoot so far. SRT is manning cow corner and fields the ball off a drive-flick.
1:14am: Dilshan tries to drive-cut and gets beaten by a sharply spinning and bouncing ball from Ojha. Two balls later Ojha rips one past a defensive Mahela. Mahela responds with an inside-out cover drive for four. Beautiful stuff by all 4 - Dilshan, Mahela, Harbhajan and Ojha.
150 for 2 in 37 overs. Dilshan on 66, Mahela on 10.
1:17am: Harbhajan Singh bowls a bad ball from over the wicket - flat, fast, short, outside the off-stump. Dilshan says thank you! Next one is looped up and a flying sweep for four is the response. Dilshan on the move now. Harbhajan switches back to round the wicket and a fast ball outside leg-stump is flicked away for a single. Economy Singh is peeking out now. Take a deep breath, Habhajan. Aargh! From over the wicket, he overpitches outside the off-stump and Mahela punches it to cover for four. A boundary blitz is on.
163 for 2, Dilshan on 75, Mahela on 14.
1:21am: Ojha gets the outer half of Mahela's bat but it flies safely on the bounce to point. Ends the over by bowling on the middle stump to Dilshan who scurries to defend. Dilshan looks so much better when he is attacking rather than defending. Shastri recommends that Ojha slip into a middle stump line as he is getting some good spin. As if on cue, Ojha proceeds to bowl four balls on that line. This is good stuff.
1:24am: Notorious partnership-breaker Yuvraj Singh is into the attack with just one slip and a forward short-leg in place with the rest of the men talking to the fans in the stands. Russell Arnold reminds us about Yuvrakj's partnership-breaking abilities. If you repeat something often enough it takes on a life of its own, doesn't it?
1:28am: Ojha starts by pitching outside the off-stump and spinning away. Mahela helps it along to the point boundary. Shasti points out that SRT on the boundary is fielding where a cover drive would be hit, a shot you want the batsman to be playing with the spin there is. He intuits that it would be better to leave that gap and move him squarer to entice the batsman into the drive.
1:30am: Sreesanth replaces Yuvraj after one over. Time for Sreesanth to do better than he did in the first spell where he was too wide of the batsmen. Conventional field - two slips and a gully. And he gets the ball to swing away from the batsman after pitching. Encouraging signs. Now he needs to get the ball onto the off-stump line to make it work. Gets closer but far enough away for Mahela to let it go again. Low 130's so far for Sreesanth. The third ball was on leg-stump but defended in front of off by Mahela. Good. Fourth ball is wide and swinging wider away, collected in front of first slip. Wasted ball. Fifth ball is a repeat of the third one and a quick single is taken. And the sixth is the same, defended away.
173 for 2 in 41 overs, Mahela is on MJ, while Dilshan is MJ away from 100.
Shastri is in his elements, discussing field positions for the left-armer and suggesting ways in which Ojha can attack. This is the type of stuff an expert commentator should be telling us. Something he does not do often enough.
1:40am: Sreesanth is now dipping them into Mahela in the high 130's and is moving it just enough to keep the batsman interested. Something's got to give. Nothing does. Drinks.
179 for 2, Mehala 28, Dilshan 77.
1:54am: Sreesanth and Ojha keeping things interesting with just enough movement to keep the bowling team interested. (Note to self: find a new word to replace "interested"). But the batsmen are just too good right now to fall for it.
2:02am: Against the grain, Mahela goes to pull Sreesanth and the extra bit of bounce and pace gets him to top edge to deep fine-leg where Sehwag settles own under the ball and pouches it with a steady head. Mahela out for 29.
Sri Lanka 187 for 3 in 47.4 overs, Dilshan on 84. Thilan Samaraweera enters. Slight pressure on Sri Lanka. Sreesanth is given a leg-slip and Thilan sends the ball past him to get off zero.
MS Dhoni turns to Harbhjan Singh now, replacing Ojha. Harbhajan bowls with a leg-slip and forward short-leg with a slip in place.
2:08am: And Harbhajan strikes first ball!! Typicl off-spinner's dismissal, spinning in, taking the edge and off the pad to the forward short-leg fielder. Thilan Samaraweera walks. India comes roaring back into it. Something did give.
188 for 4, Dilshan still around on 84, Angelo Mathews the new man in.
Harbhajan nearly gets Dilshan. Ooooooh, Dilshan goes to cut the ball and misses and it just climbs over the middle stump. Wow. Harbhajan is bowling well here. Short mid-on is also added to the leg-side field. Harbhajan is looping them in in the mid 8o's now. Always a good sign for him.
2:23am Sreesanth's fine spell - 5-1-7-1 comes to an end as ZAK comes in to bowl. Oh goodness, he bowls a Harmison special, almost directly to first slip, called a wide. Next ball is barely inside that line but not censured by the umpire. Dilshan is batting on 87. Bad news for Aussies, but surely not for Asians. The next two balls are on the stumps and also in the mid 130's. ZAk does take a few balls to get into rhythm. A lazy Sehwag lets the last ball go past him at gully to the boundary to give Mathews some respite.
Random Factoid That Not Many Know: Zaheer Khan has made the highest score by a #11 batsman in Test history (75 against Bangladesh).
2:27am: Dilshan is stepping out to Harbhajan to nullify the turn. Sweeps hard again but finds Laxman in the way at leg-slip. He lunges at the ball and pushes it to deep point for a couple to bring up the 200 for Sri Lanka. Another similar effrt moves Dilshan into the 90's. Harbhajan is bowling to a 3-6 field.
202 for 4 in 53 overs. Dilshan 91, Mathews 5.
2:31am: ZAK's radar is much better now, honing in on the stumps. Speed is in the low 130's so he is looking to beat him with movement not speed. As I say that the speed climbs to the high 130's. Over negotiated easily.
205 for 4 in 55 vers, Diilshan on 92, Mathews on 7.
2:39am: Ojha replaces the generally ineffective ZAK. Two slips and a silly point for Mathews. Pakced off-side field and Ojha slips into second Test mode. Good, tight bowling now. As I say that he stays down the leg-side and gives up a single. Dilshan comes charging down and smashes a six over long-on. Sehwagian. 99 to Dilshan now. Dishan steps out, gets beaten comprehensively and just survives as the ball hits the pads and goes to first slip. Ooooh.
213 for 4. Dilshan on 99, Mathews on 7. That's tea on the first day. This session surely goes to India but for Dilshan. runs for 3 wickets. Dilshan is still there so Sri Lanka's hopes rest on him not being satisfied with a century.
Random Factoid That Not Many Know: Glenn McGrath played in 4 World Cups (1996, 1999, 2003, and 2007, winning the last three and reaching the finals in 1996). In those 4 World Cups he played 39 matches and batted just 4 times. In those four times he faced a total of 5 balls and was not out on 3 occasions - 0*. 0, 0*, and 3*. I can think of no better indication of Australian dominance than THAT.
3:05am: Back after tea and Harbhajan is promptly driven to the cover boundary for a four by Mathews. Later in the over, Dilshan cuts away to get to his century, his 6th of the year. The fifth ball nearly produces a wicket as Mathews top edges to deep fine-leg where it goes on the bounce to Ojha who then misfields to give up the four.
225 for 4, in 57 overs. Dilshan 102, Mathews 17.
3:15am: Patience is not Harbhajan's strong suit. Ojha fumbles the ball at deep fine-leg and he lets loose. The last ball edged agonisingly close to Laxman's right at leg slip and rolls awa for four. The 50 of the partnership comes up in just 65 balls. Sr Lanka motoring along here.
3:18am: Shastri says a fast bowler should bowl and MS Dhoni responds by bringing Sreesanth back into the attack. Bowling full on the stumps now. Played away easily by the batsmen.
3:26am: Sreesanth is getting some late movement away from the batsmen but is not bowling it close enough to the stumps to interest them. When he does, Mathews edges the ball through the gap between slip and gully for a four. Now he goes to hook th ball and gets it through the same gap for another four. So close.
3:35am: Sri Lanka appears to have weathered the storm and the runs are flowing since tea. 41 runs in 7 overs. ZAK into the attack and his loosener (surprise, surprise) is sent smashing to the point boundary by Mathews. The rest of the over poses no further problems.
259 for 4 in 65 overs. Dilshan 109, Mathews has raced away to 44.
3:42am: Harbhajan gets a gift. Atrocious decision by the umpire, Nigel Long I believe. It looked not out even as they were appealing for a catch at forward short-leg. Oh no, the replays confirm that the ball was nowhere near the bat. But Dilshan has to go. There is no referral system in this Test series.
262 for 5, Dilshan out for 109 (160 balls), Mathews on 47. Prasanna Jayawardene comes in.
3:46am: ZAK onsolidates the breakthrough with a maiden to Mathews. Harbhajan Singh will like as it means that he gets to bowl to Prasanna. And bowl he does...on the leg-stump to get flicked away for a single. Mathews then sweeps fine for a splendid 50 in just 61 balls with 9 fours. Good job. Another 150 to go. Another edge, another gapper to third man for four.
273 for 5 in 68 overs. Prasanna on 5, Mathews on 52.
3:58am: Prasanna deposits Harbhajan behind square-leg for a six. This is one of his favorite shots - the slog sweep. Naturally, now a second man goes to the square-leg boundary. Just what he wanted. The last ball is deflected off the thigh pad to the fence and the batsman is gifted 4 runs by the umpire. Prasanna does not complain. I am sure he would have had a catch been taken and he given out. Dilshan knows what I mean.
Finally ZAK gets some reverse swing from round the wicket, moving the ball away from Prasanna's bat, beating him comprehensively.
4:13am: Ojha replaces Harbhajan Singh. Ojha, who had such a wonderful time in the second Test has not bowled a single maiden. Clearly a strategy that the Sri Lankans have adopted this time to not let Ojha settle into it. Also, they are getting to play him in the first innings without having a big total dangling above their heads.
4:20am: ZAK and Ojha are keeping it tight, not giving much width to the batsmen. Looks like the Indians are going to test the patience of the Sri Lankans to see if the batsmen have the patience to watch away the tight, restrictive line. Mathews feasts on a short one outside the stumps from Ojha, even as I type that.
295 for 5 in 72 overs. Prasanna on 20, Mathews on 60.
Yuvraj Singh is brought in. With 8 overs to go for the new ball, I suspect this is a way to give ZAK a break before the final attack for the day. Yuvraj is taken for a couple of boundaries by Prasanna to take Sri Lanka past 300 now. Good day's work so far, just a couple more wickets than they would have been comfortable with losing.
4:27am: Ojha finally gets a maiden. A just reward for bowling 6 balls on middle-stump spinning away to the off-stump. Mathews is in a sort of a shell here. Which is fine as long as Prasanna is scoring more freely and Angelo does not let it affect his composure. Ojha's reward is to get replaced by Harbhajan. Fair enough, actually, as he did look like he was tiring. Harbhajan is coming over the wicket and looking to loop it into the off-stump. Prasanna reaches 1000 runs in Test cricket with a Yuvraj misfield at short midwicket.
50 run partnership in 72 balls between the two. Good batting. All day the Lankans have done this but they do not have a century partnership yet on the day. This one needs to kick on and be a big one as the rest of the batsmen are not expected to score big.
Ojha comes on from the other end. Swapping ends before the fast bowlers come back with the new ball. Just a simple over yielding one single.
4:40am: Harbhajan does not look happy or excited. He has bowled 27 overs today. At the other end, Ojha flights one up and gets an outside edge just beyond Dravid's reach at slip. Another boundary for Prasanna. And his belligerence gets the better of him. Looking to loft Ojha he finds Harbhajan at mid-on for an easy catch. Prasanna throws it away needlessly. I am talking about the shot he attempted. He could just as easily tried to keep it down and driven it in the same area and been better off.
329 for 6 in 80 overs. Jayawardene out for 43. Mathews on 67. Partnership of 67 in 15 overs.
Sri Lanka will rue not getting more runs on the board from well-set batsmen.
ZAK is back in the attack. Surely the new ball is not that far away now. And it is. ZAK immediately gets the ball to go with the angle, beating Mathews who was moving forward and got caught in mid-stride but did not edge the ball. Oh, Nuwan Kulasekara is the new batsman. He does have a high score of 64 in Tests.
4:52am: Sreesanth bowls the most atrocious wide ball imaginable down the leg-side and the keeper is penalized for it with 4 byes. Ridiculous umpiring. That ball was aimed where second slip would be to a left-hander. Another ball on the leg-stump and Kulasekara gets his first runs with a simple flick to the boundary. Then Sreesanth tests Dhoni on the off-side. This time the umpire calls it a wide. He ends the over with another wide ball that is sliced away to third man for another 4. Ridiculous over. Just ridiculous in all aspects.
344 for 6 in 82 overs. Mathews on 69, Kulasekara on 8.
5:01am: ZAK induces the edge but it flies over second slip for a four. Things going the Mathews' way today. Numerous edges have flown into gaps and open spaces. Just the luck he needs, I think. Another edge that lands just short of first slip.
5:04am: Sreesanth continues and bowls wide down the leg-side again. Sreesanth is getting hit pretty badly when he does pitch it on the stumps. Vijay unfurls a Kumble dive of the highest quality and watches the ball go to the mid-off boundary.
358 for 6 in 84 overs. Mathews on 79, Kulasekara on 12.
5:12am: ZAK finally strikes with the last ball of his 18th over, getting the ball to slide away from Kulasekara and the faint edge is taken very low near first slip by Dhoni. 98 catches for the captain, by the way, in Tests.
359 for 7 in 85 overs. Mathews is on 80, Kulasekara gone for 12. Rangana Herath comes in as a nightwatchman for Murali.
5:15am: Harbhajan gives up an easy single to Mathews in order to get Herath on strike. 5 balls, potentially, at him. Nothing doing. Apart from a strong shout for LBW not much to worry the Sri Lankans.
5:19am: ZAk continues to Herath, who took a single off the last ball of the last over. ZAK hasn't bowled a no-ball in a while. It's got to be around the corner, for sure. Three slips for ZAK. Over ends with no further damage to either side.
5:25am: Rangana Herath goes to sweep Harbhajan and only manages a top edge to Dravid's left at slip. Taken with both hands inches off the ground by the leading catcher in Test history. Herath walks even before the fielders can start appealing. The third Sri Lankan to walk off quickly today. Murali to bat now. This will be fun.
362 for 8, Mathews on 82.
Random Factoid That Not Many Know: When Mohammad Azharuddin's career came to a premature end, he was the world record holder for most ODI runs and most ODI half-centuries.
5:30am: Yuvraj Singh to bowl the penultimate over of the day. Mathews will surely look to play it away for a maiden. Right? So far it seems that way until the last ball when he waltzes down the wicket and slams the ball to the long-on boundary for four to go to 86.
And that is stumps. Sri Lanka are at 366 for 8 in 89 overs. Mathews on 89, Murali on 0.
Most runs by a visiting team on the opening day of a Test match, informs Sivaramakrishnan.
Okay. I will come back later today and write a summary paragraph. Now it is time t catch a couple of hours of sleep.
b) Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN interviews two of the Little Masters of Indian cricket (GR Viswanath being the original one) - Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. Read the entire thing. Sift through the mutual admiration that is evident all the way through, and there are quite a few interesting things in there.
For instance, Sunil Gavaskar says he never looked at the scoreboard, while Tendulkar admits that he does pay close attention to it.
Towards the end, Gavaskar repeats a recent plea of his to Sachin.
Gavaskar: (...) but what I will do is, not advise him, but I will make a plea - please regain the World Cup for us in 2011.
When Sachin Tendulkar crossed Brian Lara, a whole nation (and more) heaved a sigh of relief. Many articles written about the latest Little Master were dusted off and printed.
Here's Sunil Gavaskar's thoughts on the boy he called Tendlya. Of particular interest to me is the last sentence in the article.
And don't you dare call it quits until you have the World Cup for India in 2011.
Anil Kumble discusses the man behind the runs, ending with this thought about Tendulkar that does not surprise me one bit, especially considering some of the personal anecdotes I have heard about the person from people who have met him.
On a final note, while Sachin and I haven't had too many conversations over anything else but cricket, I've always admired him greatly.
"What the IPL did was to debunk some myths and the biggest of them all was about the infallibility of the Australian coaches. The franchise owners are not fools and unless they have an inferiority complex they will soon be issuing pink notices to most if not all these freeloaders masquerading as consultants or cricket officers or some such fancy designations."
Sunil Gavaskar
Jun 16, 2008
Not-so-surprisingly, Sunil Gavaskar managed to make his feelings clear about the money that was spent on Aussie "coaches" in the IPL. For a long time he has been anti-Australian in his diatribes and this particular one did not surprise me one bit. Delving deeper into the target of the attack reveals just who is the subject of Sunny's ire.
Here are the Australian-born coaches in the IPL:
Delhi - Greg Shipperd (reached semi-finals)
Punjab - Tom Moody (reached semi-finals)
Rajasthan - Shane Warne (winners of the IPL league)
Kolkata - John Buchanan
It is patently obvious who Sunny hates so much. I wonder if he even thought about the words he wrote (highlighted in bold in the comment above) before he submitted his article. I have great respect for Gavaskar as a cricketer but not much for the commentator or the writer. A few more uninformed comments like this and I will not be in the minority.
Gavaskar prides himself on calling a spade a spade. If so, why does he not come out in the open and declare that his grudge is against Buchanan. But no, this is not the way he operates. He makes bold statements but does not give the entire information. Some time back he said that some players in the Indian team abused John Wright. He brought this to light long after Wright had ceased to be the coach. Having done that, he stayed mum about who the players actually were. What was the point of raising that issue then? Either he should have named the players or kept quiet about the whole thing.
If trees had voices and you could hear them scream, would you be as callous about cutting them down? Yes, you would be if they screamed all the time and for no good reason. There's a lesson in there for Sunil Gavaskar.
Most Indians do not really care about cricket. Deluding ourselves into believing that cricket is akin to a religion in India is just not worth it. I doubt that the Blue Billion is really a notion except in some ad campaign manager's imagination. More realistically, the really avid fans comprise a few (hundred) million, at best. Among these few million, the actual cricket fans are even fewer. If Indians really cared about cricket the Ranji trophy would be played in front of packed houses and people like Yashpal Singh would be household names.
No, most Indian cricket fans are just followers of cricketers, most of them spoonfed by the media (click here for Amit Verma's take on this). And even within the cricket team, the glamour boys are the Indian batsmen. That's it. Anil Kumble is shunted in and out of the team but no one even murmurs that the greatest wicket-taker in Indian cricket history - ODI or Tests - has been given a raw deal. But drop a Virender Sehwag and people will remind you of the glorious 309 he hit to defeat our arch-rivals.
But to say that Indians are the only ones who are like this would be a mistake. Today, when a bowler gives less than 50 runs in a 10 over spell he is considered to have done his job. That should tell you a lot about the priorities of the ICC in terms of making sporting wickets. People want to see sixers and fours, they say. Really? I think they have made people believe that they want to see fours and sixers.
Sunil Gavaskar would not have been able to maintain his place for long in the current set up. He would have been considered too slow. Ironically, Bapu Nadkarni would have been revered as a hero, even though he is a bowler.
Ah! If you do not know why Bapu Nadkarni would have been revered but do know who Gavaskar is then you probably have been following cricket spoonfed to you in this "golden age of batting".
For years, Kapil Dev has held a unique distinction - of being the only person to hold the world record for wickets in both limited overs (ODI) matches and Tests. Today, Sachin Tendulkar made an entire nation come to its feet by matching Kapil's feat in terms of centuries made in both forms of the game. (There are some well-compiled profiles and articles about his achievement on Cricinfo).
The self-proclaimed "child of the one-day age" is now the greatest accumulator of 100-plus scores in Tests (35 and counting), to go with the 38 he has in ODI's.
On the same ground in Delhi where Sunil Gavaskar had equaled Sir Donald Bradman's century mark, Sachin eclipsed one of his childhood heroes. Gavaskar's century was a frenetic affair, smashing fours almost at will and reaching his century off just 90 balls, a type of innings one imagines Tendulkar usually conjures. And ironically, Tendulkar's century was one that could have been manufactured by Gavaskar - 177 balls of studied determination, defending ball after ball, waiting for the bowlers to change their line and length to his demands.
For a long time one complaint I had against Tendulkar was that while he had the hunger to score centuries, he did not seem to have the temperament to make it a huge one. Someday, somewhere, a key was been turned in his mind, and a lock opened. In the past few years this has changed as evidenced by his scores the last 5 times he has crossed a 100 - 193, 176, 241 not out, 194 not out, 248 not out.
What is better than starting the day batting on zero? Starting the day batting on 100! Tendulkar gets to do that tomorrow. I look forward to watching this one unfold.
