Remember that sixandout had reported that Shoaib Akhtar of the Kolkata Knight Riders and er…Pakistan has been banned from International and Pakistan Domestic Cricket for 5 years. Then we reported that his appeal against his ban had been rejected and his ban stood. So far so good. Or bad, if you happen to be Shoaib. Then came the news that his ban had been suspended for a month so that he could play the IPL competition. This compels me to act a bit know-it-all-ish and quote myself from here:
Though it seems that his career is finally over, you never know …read more

Just in! Bangalore Royal Challengers owner Vijay Mallaya has sacked team coach Prasad and CEO Charu Sharma. Karnataka State Cricket Association (the local official cricketing body) secretary Brijesh is to replace Charu Sharma as the new CEO.
Well, this was something really fast. Mr Mallaya seems to think that sacking the support staff is the best way to increase the team’s morale. I think he is wrong. Poor old Sharma, he said on tv the other day that “I want to be CEO of this great team for my lifetime”. Maybe this comment gave it …read more

Starting this post, sixandout would strive to get you the dough on various cricket related web sites around the www
As a cricket blogger, it’s my obligation to go around the Internet and look for ideas and implementations which impress me. A cricket quiz certainly does. All these years, I was waiting for a cricket quiz which won’t either be too easy (How many centuries has Sachin scored?), or be too tough (Who sold Bradman’s car?). Most of all, I was waiting for a cricket quiz which aims more at letting you know more : It allows for googling of answers.
The …read more

Now this one is like throwing the cat among the pigeons. Everybody has a view. I am one of everybody. So, I have a view. If you are a Bangladeshi and you are reading this, do not worry mate. I am just surprised. With players of the quality of Mohd. Ashraful and Abdur Razzak doing the rounds, things can only get better. But that was about an year ago. Or maybe two. I am not sure but what I am sure is that there is no drastic improvement in the win percentage. Talking about it to my friends (great cricket …read more

eat Cricket, sleep Cricket, drink Cricket
Other than that he bowled extremely well in the two Commonwealth Bank ODI’s, there’s another important reason why Ishant Sharma is important for India. His presence in the team has raised the average height of players. He and Pankaj Singh can help India shed off their “little boys” tag.
Ishant Sharma is a promising pacer, and he’s only 19. But he must understand that it takes 434 wickets to be a Kapil Dev and 23 years that go into clinching those wickets. He should also understand that anybody could have a series of their life and …read more

eat Cricket, drink Cricket, sleep Cricket

Okay, I am not very clever these days, especially when it comes to cricket blogging, but thanks to the forces that be, my slumber is broken every now and then, and I actually get into the gear occasionally.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not surprised that Sourav Ganguly has been, as a clever reporter would write, sacked. The timing is interesting though. Just when the team is celebrating a thrilling victory. Also, it’s funny that this should coincide with the current poll. The Border-Gavasker series could have done without another scandalous event.

Eat Cricket, Drink Cricket, Sleep Cricket

There is some news that the Indian board will boycott the Border-Gavasker series but looks like they’re still going back and forth with the decision. So we’ll have to wait a day or two to see how things shape up.
Most of the bloggers and newspapers are demanding a  boycott. I might have thought so, too. However, I beg to differ now.
How about we stay and punch the opponents in their nose with two straight, ruthless victories? That, in my opinion, is a better way to answer them back.
If the tour is called of, the BCCI …read more

Eat Cricket, Drink Cricket, Sleep Cricket

Journalists are quite fond of finding new angles to old, beaten-to-death topics. These so-called slants come in handy when you’ve few important things to report, or to be very, very concise, your team is slipping off the pedestal.
Andrew Stevenson, Sydney Morning Herald correspondent, alleges, based on his research from secondary (as opposed to primary and authorized) sources, that Indian cricket team’s selection is caste-based.

Eat Cricket, Drink Cricket, Sleep Cricket
There were loads of good performances that we could applaud here, but when it comes to “making waves” these are the five events that I think qualify best.
The Return of Dada: After the World Cup debacle and the youngsters’ winning performance in T20, everyone was talking about culling the three Indian seniors. Ganguly was on the edge of everyone’s sword and we believed, even hoped, that he’d get the pink slip first. But that was just too much for the man who is worth 17000 runs in world cricket. “Don’t provoke the tiger,” he …read more

I know, I know, you can’t judge someone’s action simply from ordinary observation, but just take a look at this video. No trace of chucking, IMO. What is the power of Vettori’s specs, again?