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 and asked, I repeat asked the umpire to refer in upstairs. And ‘upstairs’ said : Not Out. Poetic justice was delivered when he got out three runs later. Huh!

Finally, congratulations to Warnie and the Royals for their fourth successive win. Faith be wit Ganguly and the Night Riders. Or was that Knight. Who Cares? You do? I don’t.

Laters

Photo Credit: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

SRK Gifts, Rajasthan Wins, Ganguly Cheats!

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 the match itself.

*Intuititive. Called Ganguly in to bowl at a crucial time during the first match. Some laughed, some cursed him, but Ganguly went away with two wickets. Same goes for Laxman. Oh yes, Laxman took a wicket.

*Shares a great rapport with the players. That you could easily make out by observing them on-field.

*Likes to have his way. Was under tremendous pressure to play Yuvraj, but kept him out for the first couple of tests. (I like this about him, btw)

*Is losing his “spark”. No surprise there. He is ageing. Gets tired quickly. And appears to lack energy toward the end of his spells.

Did I miss anything?

Post from: EveryJoe

7 Things We’ve Learned about Anil Kumble

India called in the reserve bench on ocassion of the last trivial ODI, and as was expected, they took it easy. A friendly Indo-Pak match. Here’s to world peace.

In retrospect, although India-Pakistan fixtures mean good business for all — advertisers, BCCI, players, Bollywood (how they flocked in to garner free publicity for their movies?), this one lacked spice; everyone complained of Pak’s seemingly lack of zest.

From India’s side, we’ve got few questions:

* What are we going to do about Sehwag?

Barring a few flashes in the pan at England, Sehwag hasn’t has much to offer all this while. He’s been India’s trump card for a long time, so the team went over lengths to give him cover. He failed to live up to their expectations, nevertheless. Considering how rare is his type of class and talent, what are we going to do about him now? Move him up to the opening slot again? Everyone’s not a Dravid, and some players work best at certain spots. Or “rest” him, to use BCCI’s terminology. He’s a player you don’t want to lose easily.

* What’s Robin Singh being paid for?

Rameez Raja, remarked candidly (and for the first time in his life, rightly), “India and Pakistan are two of the world’s worst fielding sides,” India’s fielding wasn’t awful, to be honest, and they certainly dropped fewer catches than Pakistan, but the gliding, sliding characteristic of white men (call me racist, will ya?) was missing. Their throws could be smoother, and their direct hits on the stumps didn’t produce as many run-outs. Robing Singh is on board as their fielding coach. Either his North American accent is unintelligible, or well, let’s just say, he isn’t doing the job as well, which is queer, since the man does have international coaching experience.

* Ganguly: Gone with the wind?

If India had lost the series, Ganguly’s form would have spurred debates like dal sprouts. No one’s complaining since it’s a series win. But just because it’s a series win, Ganguly’s form doesn’t become above reproach. He was “rested” for the last couple of matches, I assume. This is the right time to cull him. The kind of morbid look he has on his face these days doesn’t do anyone any good. A respectable man would “quit”.

*Should we let Sreesanth have his way?

No discussion is complete at SixandOut without the angry young man of Indian cricket. He and RP are Indian bowling’s future. Despite his antics, you can’t downplay his prodigious talent. Though his frantic reactions at out calls still freak me out, I think we can accommodate him. People like Freddie Flintoff, Shane Warne, and Sreesanth do their best when you let them have their way.

New kids on the block

This was definitely a great opportunity to test the waters with the newbies. Pravin Kumar, although couldn’t snap any wickets, impressed with this economy and composed bowling in the death overs.

Robin Sharma’s half century might have gone unnoticed, but we can see there’s good raw material. We need to exploit him.

Fawad Alam kid looked great. Something tells me he’s not just another probot.

Individual Records and Achievments

• Sachin Tendulkar, with his 403rd ODI, equalled Sanath Jayasuriya’s record most ODI caps. Plus,with his 393rd innings, he also transcended Jayasuriya’s record of 392 innings.
• Zaheer Khan, who’s another one on the brink of culling, claimed his 200th wicket in his 144th ODI, his 200th victim being Shoaib Malik. He is now the fifth Indian bowler to have bagged 200 wickets or more in ODIs, joining Anil Kumble (337), Javagal Srinath (315), Ajit Agarkar (288) and Kapil Dev (253).
• With Shahid Afridi’s dismissal, Sourav Ganguly completed his 100 wickets and completed the triple of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODIs. He is only the third all-rounder in ODI history to have completed the triple, joining India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya.

Looking ahead

Test series comes next. I am curious if, and how, they are going to accommodate Singh, and whether Sreesanth and RP make it (chances are slim, but you never know). With Kaneria being roped in, it’s going to be interesting. Asif isn’t coming. And that’s bad.

All eyes, undoubtedly, will be on Dravid and Kumble, the two best friends.

India are definitely the clear favorites. 1-0. Whadya think, cricks?

Now the secret stuff

Gee, not so much of a secret, but it’s a really cool link I found today. This is what the Indian and Paki cricks were doing after the Green Park ODI. I’ve never seen Sachin so animated. And Ganguly is having his last laugh, for sure.

Post from: EveryJoe

Why care about the Indian Oil Cup? (and some secret stuff…)

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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 lasts for the Pakistan series only. They aren’t confident he is capable of being the main man (phrase borrowed from Uncle J, without permission) for next year’s Oz tour.

I have gone all around the blogosphere making mockery of BCCI’s decision, since you know, it isn’t the wisest of decisions, but out of respect for Kumble (and it’s just occurred to me that it’s quite early to be making judgements), I am not getting into it here. Paradigm shift might be the word. After all, he’s always been underrated and never got enough of the camera focus, not even as much as he deserved. So how much do we really know about his leading capabilities? Yes, yes, players with leadership potential begin to demonstrate the skill quite early on, but there are always exceptions. Kumble has the experience. He knows his cricket. He’s a good chap. I think our IMHO’s can wait.

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The team at Googly have shelled out ten reasons why Kumble deserves to be India captain. Fun read.

Post from: EveryJoe

The Day of the Underdog

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 idea of how the pitch was behaving…..The batsmen seem to be struggling….there’s a lot of bounce….

India finishes 321/9 Grassy pitch, my foot.

Post from: EveryJoe

Never trust Rameez Raja

Let’s dig up some stats.

How has Tendulkar fared as India Test captain in comparison to Dravid and Ganguly, the other two recent skippers?

So there. Point taken.

However, unlike Ganguly and Dravid, his batting never suffered during captaincy.

As you can see, his batting average suffered a decline of about 4 points. Not negligible, but not bothersome either.

Stats aside, you may like to note that Tendulkar has quit captaincy in the past. It was silly on BCCI’s part to expect him to lead again. I was unsure if he would agree to the offer. And it comes as no surprise to me that he has turned it down.

Captaining India is no child’s play. It definitely sucks up a lot of one’s time and energy fielding media inquiries, attending conferences, etc. Add to that, one has to put up with the politics that is always doing the rounds of BCCI’s headquarters.

So that leaves BCCI with the following options:
Dhoni, Ganguly, Kumble, Laxman

Kumble and Laxman don’t fit the bill. Not only are they too low-profile, timid, but they haven’t really been with the team much lately. And to be honest, they are not going to be around for a long time either.

Now that leaves us with Ganguly and Dhoni. Ganguly, of course, is India’s most successful captain. But after the Chappell scandal, BCCI would be reluctant to appoint him. And with the current state of affairs in the team, that might not be a very wise thing to do indeed.

Dhoni, as some are opining, is way too young for that spot. Ugh. He’s older than Nawab Pataudi (who took over as captain at age 21), at least, gentlemen. Dhoni’s already handled seniors in the Future Cup, and he did fine. Besides, it’s clear that sooner or later he would have to take up Test captaincy too. So why not give him a chance now? And given that Pakistan’s current team comprises mainly of rookies and not much of a threat, this is the best time to test waters. IMHO, of course.

Kumble has been reported as saying that he’s ready for any “duty” that the board assigns him. Wow, that’s going to make the BCCI jump with joy. They can do anything in this state of desperation!

What’s your take?

Post from: EveryJoe

Tendulkar says “nah”; the captaincy drama continues

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 fairness, that there was even as much play as there was nothing short of a miracle and is, in part, testament to the quality of the £1.2m drainage system at Lord’s. Play was uninterrupted until midway through the middle session when bad light forced an early tea. Rain then stopped play for good. At the time, India were perilously close to losing, with 9 wickets down, but some spirited batting from Mahendra Dhoni in particular, saw them do just enough to stave it off.

England do look the stronger side, despite a massively inexperienced bowling attack, but once again, people have stepped up when it mattered. Sideshow Bob has moreorless cemented his place for the foreseeable future and Jimmy Anderson repaid the selectors’ continued faith with a well earned 5fer. Chris Tremlett looked good enough, but didn’t do enough to keep his place when the likes of Hoggard and Flintoff are fit again. However, with both out for at least the next test, Tremmers will certainly get another chance to prove himself. Runs for Strauss and Vaughan in the first innings were welcome and overdue, and Matt Prior continues to illustrate the type of consistency that is required, and has been severely lacking, in the England wicket keeper – it’s a massive relief to have the questions over that position finally put to bed.

The 2nd Test gets underway at Trent Bridge on Friday.

Post from: EveryJoe

1st Test peters out