Cricket and India !!!

Give me one way to prove Indians are mad about cricket.
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When girls on 'roadies' can answer a question which goes like this:

Translate this Hindi phrase - लंब दंड गोल पिंड धर पकड़ प्रतियोगिता

Notes From Chinnaswamy

My observations from the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore: (I watched third day's play of first test match between India vs Australia LIVE at the stadium)

Logistics...

0. Getting on the spot tickets for one day of a test match in Bangalore even on a weekend was not at all difficult. You only need to reach stadium two and a half hours earlier and stand in a queue. Everything else flows smoothly.

1. I loved the first sight of the ground. Such a beauty! But my idea of cricket grounds was hit big time. C'mon! Even I can hit a four (or a six for that matter) on Chinnaswamy. Ground did not at all seem too big.

2. There was a decent arrangement of chairs in the stand. Refreshments were available just outside the stand on a little highr than normal price. Whole stadium is covered for spectators so one need not carry an umbrella even if ones' Yahoo! Weather widget predicts thunderstorms.

Now coming to pre-match scenario..

3 . One hour before the start of play, Gary Kirsten arrives into the stadium with MOST of the team members. They divided themselves in two groups and played a rugby-like game (part where players fall over each other- was missing) . Senior players other than Sachin were least bothered to get the ball and score a goal for their team. Dhoni and Bhajji were the most active players. Others were just making up the numbers.

4. Next, all of them formed a circle. Gary took the center and started exercising. Players tried to follow him. But sad part is that they were never in sync even while doing the exercises.

5. A peek into pre-match batting practice time: Sachin (1-2 minutes), Dravid (2-4 minutes), Saurav (5 minutes), Laxman (3-4 minutes), Sehwag (3-4 minutes), Gambhir (5-7 minutes)........HARBHAJAN (15-20 minutes). NOT surprisingly Harbhajan ended up as the highest scorer of the day (with a half century). After all, practice makes a man perfect :D.

Cricket :) ....the game begins...

6. If you are not sitting in the stands right in front of the pitch, you won't be able to guess the line of the delievery :( , which happened with us. You also struggle to notice if somebody gets out.

7. And the worst part is that, they don't show replay for dismissals even on that large electronic screen. They do show replays for a few select delieveries (which don't raise a umpiring error concern) .

8. Harbhajan was definitely the best batsmen on that day. Everybody else struggled more than him. Dravid edged more than ten delieveries and Ganguly was very uncomfotable at crease. Sachin looked good but did not last long.

9. It also drizzled for some time and play was held up. Got bored during the break. But Harbhajan made sure we got the worth of our money. He played some exquisite strokes all around the ground.

summing it up...

10. It was a great experience for a cricket addict such as me. I loved every part of it.

End of the Road ?

There were days when they were the talk of the town. Bowlers shuddered by the thinking of bowling at them. Many of them could not progress in their careers after being hammered by them. When 'He' arrived at crease to open in an ODI innings, nation came to a standstill to witness the copybook strokes. They held their breath when 'He' used to step down the track to most feared spinners of the world, to hit them over long-off and long-on. 'He' has been named as 'The wall' and Mr. Reliable and is considered technically the best batsmen the world has ever seen. Elegance of 'His' strokes made Australians wonder why 'he' was not a regular part of Indian cricket team.

You would second me that they have been the best in business for so many years now! But it seems that time has finally caught up with them. They are looking straight down the barrel, all at the same time. The batsmen who was the nemesis of the 'Shane Warne', is gasping for air against a debutant!A'The Wall' is simply clueless. 'The god of off-side cricket' has been no different ! 'His' elegance is pleading for some more time to unveil itself !



I don't think it's all about the 'talent' of the 'mystery spinner'. After all he is the same bowler who bowls to the man with big appetite, Sehwag and new find of Indian cricket, Gautam Gambhir. Haven't they faced the same bowlers? Man, they have given some performance ! But the 'FAB 4' are totally out of sorts. And my dear friend, this could be it. This could just be the start of end of an era which saw greatest Indian (or probably world's) best four individual batsmen come together who could never make a world beater team.

If my worst fears come true, great indian selectors (which seem to me the best group of individuals who run A responsible entity in India) could be tempted to try 'young talent' in test cricket in just the next series which is against the world champions at home. If they choose to drop the 'fab 4', it would be marked as most disgraceful exit for a bunch of cricketers who made the game of cricket look more beautiful. I would advise them like most Indians (we are most selfish when it comes to cricket) to announce their retirement right after this test series against Sri-Lanka. World would never discuss their failures again, if they choose to do so, simply because they would have left behind a large enough legacy of successes to discuss forever. Collectively they have drubbed and set more cricketing records than any other four batsmen playing together in a team.

Whatever may be the case, their exit from Indian cricket team would mark the end of an era. The world of cricket will never be same again. It would be deprived of the best batsmen of contemporary times. But whenever we look back, Sachin's fabulous drives through covers will always make us smile; Saurav's sixes of murali will always be the best example of elegant spin play; Dravid's technique will always be considered a model for defense and VVS would always be looked upon highly for his all brilliance against the world champion team.

Thanking you 'Fab 4' for all the contribution you have made to the world of cricket. Cricket will become significantly poorer when you choose to leave the center stage or when you are made to do that .

इंडिया vs इंग्लैंड Ist टेस्ट मैच

It's been long since Indian cricket team played well. They failed miserably in the first innings against the inexperienced England pace attack. The Sachins, Dravids and Laxmans could do no good to the Indian cause and they conceded a healthy lead of 97. Inexperienced Indian pacers did reasonably well again in the second innings to get England bowled out on 282. But the lead made sure that India gets nothing less than 380 as the target to win the First Test at Lords !
Then came the biggest surprise. A paradigm shift appeared in the Indian strategy to chase the target !! Every Batsman came with a positive frame of mind, trying to play his natural game. And India seemed in contention. Remember India has almost never been able to withstand such situations - facing a huge target 0f 380 and almost 4 sessions of game yet to be played. But the final day at Lords seemed different, with Indians trying to go for the kill and England were definitely worried when Dhoni and Laxman were rattling the attack.
Well ! This was definitely a new thing for the game followers. I liked the change really very much( that's why wasting my imp time in discussing Indian cricket - giggle). If India adopts such strategies always then they are sure to lose less matches. If they continue to play the way they did on the fifth day, they will definitely win the last two test matches. Lets see, how long does this new REBELLION thinking survives. But in the meantime lets get happier because they finally saved the first test match.