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Friday, September 14, 2007

Googlies: Twenty twenty win over Pakistan

A win is a win is a win is a win.
Or maybe not.

A few days back, rain had dampened India's chances.
Today, Asif nearly finished us off; before Uthappa salvaged another big inning.Big in terms of value. When Uthappa was hitting his boundaries, when Asif was turning into a hero, what was the original bad boy of Pak cicket Shoib thinking?
Perhaps this: I should have hit Asif harder
or maybe "why at all"?

I gave up all hope. Then there was a ball without a run and on the last ball a run out led to game being a tie. This never happens. Never to India. Never on a Friday (Jumma). Never on the beginning of Ramazan month. I grew up cursing Fridays, for India invariably lost to Pakistan in those dismal Sharjah days. Miandad, who happens to be related to Dawood now, could hit a six even on last ball. India could always hand a victory to Pakistan after solid opening stands. There was a time when we lost and the reason was simple: everytime the ball touched the body of an Indian batsman, the Umpire raised his finger. So when India had the match tied, I checked on a few other websites. I cannot allow a typo to make me really happy. I am a writer, or I think I am a writer, and who knows but a writer, how invaluable the typo is. Yet India had the match tied, and then this curious rule made 20-20 sweeter.

The hit the stumps rule is just awesome antithesis of how cricket is played. Yet it has an element to it, which I had undervalued, before I actually saw it unfold today. Pakistan missed all three attempts at stumps. Shoaib must have cursed, Inzy must have shaken his head and Yusuf would have been too irritated to comment. Back home, Saurav dada Gangul;y must have pumped his fist, Dravid must have raised a toast to his relinquished captaincy, and Tendulkar must have watched like a curious schoolboy, asking wifey to give his aging muscles a well-deserved massage.

Few things were sorted out. Sehwag is still the wag without the bite. Pathan, like most real Pathans, is fighting battles within. Sreesanth was sensible today, but that lad drinks too much Red Bull or something of the sort, and can explode any minute. Agarkar will always be the most hated guy in the bowling department, but that dude did ball alright in his first few overs. Indian batting, except for Dhoni and Uthappa sucked, and unless amends are made, their weaknesses will get them killed soon. My only wish was to see India lose and sort of limit my time spend on watching these scores. In the India A match on the other hand, the old men scored double centuries (Badrinath and Akash Chopra) while Tiwary and Pujara fell cheap. Also fell Md Kaif, who it seems, will never realize the dream of captaining Indian team to World Cup victory. The U-19 World cup was good enough. But you never know.

6 comments:

Vivek Sharma said...

From sulekha.com


« Back to Post
Vivek Sharma comments: on 15 Sep 07 11:40:00 AM
delete this comment - block this user
Since it was the first day of Ramzan, a popular gossip theory is that Pakistani players were too hungry to focus on wickets any more. Pak captain claimed that they were unaware of the rue, while Indian captain, Dhoni, said the bowlers chosen were the best five among the lot chosen during the practice sessions. (Actually Rohit sharma is said to be the most relaible, but he did not feature in the eleven yesterday).

On desicritics, temporal suggested that in stead of bowl out a dough-nut eating competition would be as useful. My take on that is:

A dough-nut eating competition sounds awesome. Perhaps both teams will be asked to place all their players in the inner circle, and a helicopter with throw a dozen doughnuts. Whichever teams 1) catches and 2) eats the most will win. In case of a tie, drop a dozen "karela" (bitter gourd) and check again. That will end up in a bittersweet victory;)


shalin comments: on 15 Sep 07 11:34:00 AM
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I was wondering.. pakistani ballers can't be that bad.. maybe and just maybe it was a tactic to let India win in the match so Pak can be in the group where they will play Bangladesh.

any comments?

Vivek Sharma comments: on 15 Sep 07 11:25:00 AM
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Sometimes bizarre events unfold in such interesting and unpredictable way that you can just sit back and enjoy. I guess the match and pre-match events were such:)

Lets see what happens next!
pradeep24s comments: on 15 Sep 07 03:41:00 AM
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It was an amazing match yest.. but bowl out was funny

Vivek Sharma said...

from desicritics.org:

#1
Aditi Nadkarni
URL
September 15, 2007
12:17 AM

Hi Vivek,

Nice article. Although no matter how exciting the "hit the stumps" rule I still think it doesn't belong in cricket. I know, I'm old fashioned I guess.

BTW the mention of Sharjah was cruel :) The jumme-ke-jumme losses are just too painful to go back to.

For now lets enjoy the sweet flavor of victory...for god alone knows when we will have it again! :)

#2
Aaman
URL
September 15, 2007
01:20 AM

I think this bowl-out rule is crappy

#3
Chandra
September 15, 2007
01:38 AM

Vivek

It was a great match but of poor quality. The Paks and most Indian batsmen batted unprofessionally. Our bowlers bowled quite a few wides and that is not OK at all. This being India's first match, this performance is accepted. However, they need to improve substantially to make it to the semis.

#4
Zainub
URL
September 15, 2007
02:08 AM

I'm certainly no fan of bowl outs either, but three misses out of three is just plain unacceptable, especially on Friday, that too in Ramadan ;)

#6
Chandra
September 15, 2007
02:23 AM

Zainub

Unprofessional is the right word :-)

Are you writing something on mohtarama returning to Pak on the 18th. Her deal making is sick and even sicker was Saad Hariri and the Saudi guy doing a Press Conf in Pak.

Sorry I digress.


rgds

Vivek Sharma said...

more from desicritics.org

#7
temporal
URL
September 15, 2007
04:00 AM

considering the talent-pool of the two teams...this was a sub par performance by both teams that crawled (somehow) to an exciting end marred by a bawl out

maybe next time there is a tie ICC should devise a more creative way?... a dough nut eating competition?

#8
kela
September 15, 2007
04:12 AM

100% betting involved,why do u think dravid quit?

#9
temporal
URL
September 15, 2007
05:41 AM

haiN? dravid bechara kahaaN se tapak paRa beech maiN?

#10
Vivek
URL
September 15, 2007
11:36 AM

Sometimes bizarre events unfold in such interesting and unpredictable way that you can just sit back and enjoy. I guess the match and pre-match events were such:) Be it Asif and Shoaib, Indian batting collapse, Dravid's resignation, Inzy affair: the build up was weird.

Chandra: The format is new, and I guess I will let all the teams adjust to it with some sloppiness:). If Australia and West Indies could lose so easily, I guess the danger for India losing out against Pakistan was great.

Aditi: How can an Indian cricket fan forget the curse of Fridays? Even "Jumma chumma de de" was not able to heal those wounds.

Aaman: Bowl out is a good joke the first time around; I guess cricket will fare better without it.

Temporal a dough-nut eating competition sounds awesome. Perhaps both teams will be asked to place all their players in the inner circle, and a helicopter with throw a dozen doughnuts. Whichever teams 1) catches and 2) eats the most will win. In case of a tie, drop a dozen "karela" (bitter gourd) and check again. That will end up in a bittersweet victory;)

Lets see what happens next!

Vivek Sharma said...

more from desicritics.org:

#11
Aditi Nadkarni
URL
September 15, 2007
12:10 PM

temporal: loved the "hain?" in #9 It is my inner reaction too to most disconnected comments but I never managed to express it in a comment with such few syllables. Hehehe.

Vivek: Haha. Kimi Katkar dancing around with AB could've never erased the Sharjah shame :D

#12
kela
September 15, 2007
01:21 PM

hain hain ,bowl out = matchfixing = reason behind dravid quitting hain hain

#13
Jay
September 15, 2007
01:23 PM

kela: this article is not about Dravid's resignation...that is a different article.


#14
temporal
URL
September 15, 2007
01:29 PM

jay:

flummoxing googlies:)

#15
kela
September 15, 2007
01:41 PM

jay that match stunk of match fixing , and dravid is still a gentleman

#16
Vivek
URL
September 15, 2007
02:29 PM

If the match was fixed, the scriptwriter for the match should be hired by desicritics. For in spite of the flaws in batting or bowling, the action and drama was sound.

The question to ask is "Who after Dravid?"


#17
Chandra
September 15, 2007
04:59 PM

Yesterday, before the match commenced..these were the two choices for India

India Lose: India is a useless team, bad players, bad captaincy etc etc

India Wins: Match is fixed

Either way India get screwed

rgds

Vivek Sharma said...

more and more from desicritics.org

#18
Said Chaudhry
September 16, 2007
12:29 AM

What a crap finish to a great game. How can India's two top order batsmen, who are rarely used as bowlers end up winning a match for India with the ball!? This just goes to show the problems and stupidity that exists in the ICC to come up with the 'bowl-out' idea. And did anyone see the way the Indian players were jumping around afterwards as if they've never won a cricket game before? Such joy is only expereinced by teams that win WorldCup. Utter nonsense.

#19
Amrita
URL
September 16, 2007
12:42 AM

And did anyone see the way the Indian players were jumping around afterwards as if they've never won a cricket game before?

Um, so many jokes, so little time. :D

#20
Addi
September 16, 2007
08:28 AM

Man u screwed it ....i dint like the jumma part ..coz i m a muslim and these things get us on personal level ...and yes i am indian ...

so before opening up ur crap hole ...zip it when it comes to feelings.....

#21
Vivek
URL
September 16, 2007
09:21 AM

India lost to New Zealand. Lets take out out knives and forks and feast on the flaws of the playing eleven. Last four overs of our innings required atleast one big hitter to slog it out: lets hope for miracle next time.

Addi, I stated a simple fact about feelings of many Indians, and it has nothing to do with religion: Jumma was always considered more lucky for Pakistan in 1980s (& so many of my close friends are Muslims, my dear, that I understand where your line of thought comes from; yet they would agree as well, that maybe it was Sarjah talisman, or crowd, things happened in a particular way). Plus if you consider my writings come from a crap hole anyway, flush them, and keep your heart clear.

#22
Chandra
September 16, 2007
09:43 AM

Vivek

The Indians are learning the art of 20-20 cricket and did a decent job to reach 180...their highest score in 20-20 cricket. There are huge positives- much much better fielding, explosive start and reasonable bowling. The big problem was in consistency and variation in the bowling and some usless shorts in batting. Need to be more patient with both batting and bowling.

rgds

#23
Vivek
URL
September 16, 2007
01:31 PM

Chandra,

I think all the teams, except maybe England have little experience with this format.

Personally I always allow Indian cricketers a fair share of flaws, my idea of hero is someone who gets beaten up most of the time, but knows how to fight back every now and then;)

Yes, the last four overs apart, I thought India did extremely well. But almost there is never good enough, is it?

Vivek Sharma said...

more from desicritics.org

#24
Chandra
September 16, 2007
02:17 PM

Vivek

You will be surpised that while this was our 7th match, most other teams played a minimum of 10 matches and a number of local matches.

Ya, at the end of the day we did not win. Quite disappointing. Somehow I am persuaded that we will the next 2.

BTW, the Pietersen run out was wrong...clear case of impeding by Pollock.

rgds

#25
Die Hard
September 17, 2007
06:30 AM

Vivek, Funny really that you have to ask "Who after Dravid?" Because it's something that shouldn't have happened. Obviously it's should be (and should have been) Ganguly

#26
Vivek
URL
September 17, 2007
06:02 PM

Is that so? The Ganguly war will begin again.
Line up your weapons folks; the turf of cricket off-field requires some mud-slapping and mud-slinging. Let the guy with most mud win (Ganguly); or longest hair win (Dhoni).

I think the time for Prince of Calcutta is over. The Prince, whose name is exactly what it should be to become a prince, Yuvraj could be a surprise but right choice for one dayers, and maybe in absence of a Ram, Laxman can take over the test leadership.

Dhoni for 20-20'
Yuvraj for one day
Laxman for tests

What say???:)

#27
Vivek
September 17, 2007
07:28 PM

I would vote for Anil Kumble for a short period 6-9 months.

#28
Chandra
September 17, 2007
07:36 PM

sorry, previous comment was mine

#29
Die Hard
September 18, 2007
01:35 AM

Agree with Chandra. Kumble for test team

#30
Shan
September 18, 2007
06:50 AM

Kumble???? hahahaha

That too when the best possible captain (Ganguly) is available? Ridiculous. I'm sure now someone will also mention Laxman. If only all good players automatically had leadership qualities.

Yuvraj cannot hold his place in the test team, Dhoni is a slogger who seems to have become popular, but has NO test achievements to his credit. Ditto for Karthik. And you want them to be captain?

It HAS to be Sourav or Sachin, for the next two seasons at least.

#31
Vivek
URL
September 18, 2007
11:09 AM

Dhoni announced captain for one days.
& Pak puts up an awesome performance, to defeat Australia.

One day Team: The team for first three ODIs against Australia.

M S Dhoni (capt), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir , Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Romesh Pawar, Piyush Chawla, R P Singh, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth , Harbhajan Singh.

#32
ritu ranjan
September 19, 2007
08:24 AM

hye,vivek!
the match fascinated me a lot. you can never imagine a 3-0 win of a cricket team . but indeed it's true
thindia has done this &over pak gre..........at.