Just watched the Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals match on telly. A few things prior to the match came to my attention. Since the owner of the Kolkata team has gifted each player a new laptop, the Knight Riders have never won. Some coincidence. I hope Vijay Mallaya (liquor baron, owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers) doesn’t serve chilled Kingfisher Beer to his team.
During the game, there was a moment when Saurav Ganguly (48* then) lofted a ball straight to Greame Smith at deep mid wicket who took a lowly catch. As the Royals celebrated, Ganguly stood his ground …read more

 Eat Cricket, Drink Cricket, Sleep Cricket
Anil Kumble was known to us as a humble, shy folk from Bangalore, who couldn’t even step over an ant.
But this series has allowed us to get some interesting scoop on him.

* Right-headed. Likes to think of the big picture and over the long-term. Keeps reminding players to set goals and not sweat the small stuff, like pitch conditions, weather, etc.
* Takes calculated risks. Or maybe it’s better to say “doesn’t” take many risks. Delayed declaring the second innings in the third match to ensure a series win, even if that decision threatened to kill …read more

Pakistan skipper Malik feels that their win in the 5th ODI has “balanced” both the teams and raised his team’s confidence big time. We’ll know soon that he’s highly mistaken.
India called in the reserve bench on ocassion of the last trivial

Kris Srikkanth and my dad are more than happy. Their deepest wish has come true.
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BCCI, in a hasty attempt to resolve the captaincy crisis following Tendulkar’s refusal, have passed on the hat to Kumble. They had several options beside Kumble: Dhoni, Laxman, and Ganguly. Not going for Ganguly and Laxman is understandable, but they must have had a hard time choosing between Dhoni and Kumble. I think their pseudo-logic behind leaving out Dhoni was that they didn’t want to burden the ODI captain with additional responsibility at this point. But there was also a trace of indecision — Kumble’s captaincy …read more

India vs. Pakistan: 2nd ODI at Mohali
Context #1 Akhtar’s opening over. Ganguly smacks a four across cover point off a short delivery.
Rameez Raja:
When Gul comes in, he’ll teach Akhtar how to bowl at length.
Ganguly is played on by Akhtar over the next ball, which is by no means short.
Context #2 Sachin and Gambhir are trying to settle down in the first few overs.
Rameez Raja:
I think India should have opted to field first. It’s a hard pitch with a grassy patch in the middle. They could have brought their pacers in (this is a pacer-friendly pitch), got an …read more

Sachin Tendulkar has refused to captain India’s Test side for reasons that are unknown to mortals as of yet. Most self-claimed cricket experts (my dad included) are of view that Tendulkar simply lacks executive intelligence-the kind that is needed to lead an international team. He’s no match to Ponting, Waugh, and the like, of course.
Let’s dig up some stats.

India vs England, Lord’s Day 5
Sadly, the match that was truly poised for a thrilling finish, came to nothing as England’s shoddy weather intervened. Day 5 started with India needing some 250 runs for the win, or to save 7 wickets to ensure the draw. England were in a strong position after day 4 following some terrific batting from KP, which he subsequently described as his best batting performance to-date, and some equally terrific bowling from James Anderson and Monty Panesar. Late in the day, Monty yet again claimed the prize wicket of Sachin Tendulkar to set it all up.
In …read more