The BCCI is unlikely to support any stringent action against Zimbabwe at the ICC’s annual meeting in Dubai next week, a top Indian board official has indicated.

This is regarding expulsion of the Zimbabwe cricket team. The Indian Cricket Setup has been known for ages as the perennial peer-helpers. The Indian Cricket Team toured Sri Lanka, South Africa and Bangladesh when they started or restarted their test journey.

So now, when the entire world (read England and South Africa) wants Zimbabwe to be kicked out of the ICC because they have a dictator who means no good (according to England and South Africa) to the world and to his own countrymen, India has taken the higher moral ground conveying that it is not the fault of the budding Taibus and Mazakadzas of the world that they are ruled by a dictator. India has also tried to convey that all teams needing practice are too bored of the ever confident Bangladesh.

Post from: EveryJoe

India to back Zimbabwe

I will be back with more cricket. Keep Refreshing.

Post from: EveryJoe

Apologies, and Beau is not that bad

Alright, lets get the stats (being a sports guy, there are stats everywhere for me):

Type of Drug : Opium (contraband)

Quantity : 10 gm

Does he care : no

There is a reason why I mentioned the last line. The minimum punishment for such an offence in Dubai is 4 years RI and it may be extended to 20! Its grave! But he doesn’t care. The Pakistan Board doesn’t care. It makes a few phone calls, and if the news channels are to be believed, he might be a free druggie in a few hours! Blasphemy never had a better synonym.

Later, till Mr Akhtar follows suit!

Photo : Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Mohammad Asif caught with drugs!

We start with Mr. Shah Rukh Khan, the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders. Apart from owning the IPL Team, SRK is arguably the biggest star of the Indian Film Industry.

In India, he is referred to as King Khan, and for reasons which are not fallacious at all. This guy has got this charisma, this ‘People’ thing. He knows how to catch the pulse of the audience. Be it coming to the Knight Rider matches and hugging each player to dancing and jumping in joy when they do well. Compare that to the other owners of the IPL teams, and they are closer to stationary blots. With his team doing reasonably well in the inaugural IPL, he has reasons to cheer. He once said that he has spent a lot of his money for this venture, and is at a point of no return. Though not the richest of all IPL owners, he is undoubtedly the most popular and stylish.

Some Stats:

Age : 44
Team : Kolkata Knight Riders
Net Worth : $1.2 Million (approximate) (pays a lot of taxes, though!)
Bought Team for : $950,000
Alternate Occupation : Actor (Superstar)
Co-Owners : Juhi Chawla, Jay Mehta

(All figures are in USD)

Next Team : Kings XI Punjab (owned by Preity Zinta)

Laters

Photo Credit: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Owners of IPL : Shah Rukh Khan

If you don’t have a clue what I am talking about, read this

The IPL jurisdiction committee sat and decided that Harbhajan should get a 11 match ban from IPL and 100% Match Fees fine. Mind you, this is just the punishment from the IPL committee. The BCCI is planning for more stick as it has appointed an independent (LOL) committee.

Some journalists feel that BCCI is trying to make an example out of him, trying to make him the RIO FERDINAND of cricket.

Sreesanth too has got a reprimand for being a crybaby. Mr Lalchand Rajput, the manager of MUMBAI INDIANS (Harbhajan’s Team) has got a 50% Match fees fine for aiding a culprit or whatever. Seems like the plot of a John Grisham Original.

Later

Post from: EveryJoe

Harbhajan Slaps Sreesanth : An Update

There are a lot of incidents in life which one feels should not have happened. Being slapped by a senior in your cricket team is one of the worst. Having played (and still playing) some sort of cricket myself, I can at least try to understand the agony that Shantakumaran Sreesanth must have felt when he was slapped by Harbhajan Singh. According to most sources, after the match (which the Kings finally won), Sree (Kings) went over to Harbhajan (Indians) and said, and I quote: “Hard Luck, mate.” The next moment, Sreesanth was in tears. LITERALLY, and that too in front of a few billion international viewers. He looked totally inconsolable.

Sreesanth Inconsolable

Let’s tone down the melodrama and focus a bit on the psychology here. Dinnie, I know it’s your territory but I can’t help but dwell on it now. Harbhajan has always had his run-ins with the law. Right from his dislike for the National Cricket Academy food in his teens, to his possession of stinking shoes in New Zealand, to his ‘polite’ altercations with Hayden and Symonds, he has always been the talking point when it comes to the rule stretchers of Indian Cricket. What I feel about human psychology is that it follows the cause-effect principle. Everything has a reason. Digging into Harbhajan, you would find that he alone supports nine people in his family. His dad passed away when his place in the Indian Team was not even certain. He has been through a lot, and a bit of impatience usually comes with it.

Coming back to Sreesanth, he too has been the eye-candy for match referees throughout his young career. His actions mostly smell of aggression, stinking on the side of immaturity most of the times. The romantics in India certainly appreciate that, but then, what is immature is IMMATURE. When a known aggressor is the captain of a team which has just lost the third match in a row, only an immature personality can go up to him and say things Sree said. Harbhajan retort was acceptable, maybe not the manner in which he dished it out. A smart word should have sufficed. Sometimes it feels that we as cricket observers should try to find out who was right and who was wrong in every on and off field incident. We do this, knowing pretty well than nothing is RIGHT or WRONG, it just happens. You can analyze it as much as you may; the truth is that there is no truth. Everything is just an interpretation. Best of Luck, Harbhajan and HARD LUCK, Sreesanth

Video Credit : Youtube

Post from: EveryJoe

Harbhajan Slaps Sreesanth

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…)

Malik’s learning, but as I stated on Ottayan’s blog, this series is from being his last. (Okay, some shameless self-promotion there, but I couldn’t help it.)

And ta-dah– Malik’s captaincy has been extended. For a full one year, no less.

In my town, where we’ve just had an exciting match, when someone makes fool of themselves in this manner, we call it a googly. Indian slang for you. Anyone know the Hindi version?

Post from: EveryJoe

I don’t like blabbermouths…

–

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.

–
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