So you expected the Kiwis to roll over and die?

The vibe that most of my friends, news channels, newspapers were giving off before the series took off was that the Kiwis would be steamrolled in both the tests and ODIs.

Guess what?

You're wrong.. yes you, you smug idiot who wrote on Cricinfo comments that his ticket for the 4th day at Motera would be wasted.

Anyone who has followed the matches between the 2 teams will know that the Black Caps have always been a pain in the ass for India.

They will not just fold up. If you are going by their performance against the Deshis then consider a few things

a) The Deshis did PLAY WELL to win the matches

b) They did not just turn up and expect to win

c) Yes, the Kiwis played awfully at times, but they're not gonna do that ALL the bloody time

Their batsmen have shown that they can handle the spinners alright. I am mighty impressed by Williamson's footwork and temperament. Jesse has the power of Beer. Dan WILL always hang around and irritate everyone, always. Now, if they can find a half decent opener and two of their fast bowlers last the whole five days, the Kiwis can really be a handful.

Though India did get away with a draw. There are a few questions i'd like answers to before the second test

1) How many times has Ojha outbowled Bhajji in the last year? (If you say Eden Gardens. i'll say Fluke)

2) Rahul Dravid

3) Ishant or Sreesanth?

4) Is Ravi Shastri's voice really like that or he actually sounds like Sachin.. But tries to fake a baritone

5) Why do we let the pressure off after the ball stops swinging?

6) Will Arun Lal get off Sree's case and let him be?

7) Will we crumble again in the face of some decent swing and seam bowling? (Even though I know James Franklyn is added to the squad)

8) Will Gauti miss another straight one? if he is picked, that is

9) Will RD go fishing outside the off stump again? (oh, i mentioned that already?)

10) How much has Bhajji's ego bloated after the 100?

11)Will The Smooth One have to save India's hide, again?

12)Does fire really fly out of Yuvi's ass?

13) Will MSD find any form with the bat? (do check his average for this year on CI)

So much, to know.. so little time.. guess we'll know when play starts tomorrow

Whatever it is, India must realize that they must not underestimate the Kiwis

(Admittedly, this is a bit late, but hey! Check the date on which the previous post was published)

So Far at the t20 Whatever

1) Three years into the tournament and the organizers haven't yet decided if it is a cup or a trophy or just a shield or mace or  whatever... It's just the world t20....

2) Last year's runners up, Sri Lanka are in a right mess with the batting, Dilshan's lost form, King Kumar ain't too flash either, Uncle Sanath seems to be playing as a spinner only and the Other Guy wont get to bat till the rest of the average middle order fall behind the rate a bit  And according to latest news Murali has gone out with an injury.

3)Australia seem to have a clue what they're doing at T20. What's with the comic running at the end though?

4)Despite all the suspensions, Pakistan have come into the tournament with quite a decent side. Misbah is "almost" doing everything though.almost taking catches, almost getting run out... he never closes the bloody deal. Mohammad Aamer is just amazing.. and Mohammad Sami..well....

5)Mohammad Ashraful is fooling people into believing that he's gone all sensible now, wait till you watch his next innings. Mortaza is back to playing cricket.. dunno for how long though

6)It's still pretty difficult to tell what the West Indians will do.. yet to face a strong team.

7) What exactly is the thinking behind South Africa's thinking of wait-till-the-target-gets-out-of-reach-then-make-a-mad-dash approach, I can never understand.

8)The Kiwis are as usual the underdogs... which means no one notices until they get to the knockout stages, and wonder how the hell they got there.. and of course, there will be the usual exit in a close do or die game.

9)India, somehow still think they can get away with bowling part timers even in crucial stages. The batsmen seems to be finding their feet


10) Well played, to the Afghanistan cricket team. The rise in ranks of the team is wonderful story of self belief and determination.



More, after the group stages

What the fast bowler had been doing all this time

getting away from it all at cheap resorts..





and doing this...








Last one in is yours truly.


P.S. keep the volume down you won't like the background music

Stuart stops trying to be Freddie

Going by his approach in the first test and the first innings of the second test, I was wondering whether Stuart Broad was trying to emulate Flintoff.
You know bowling 'the heavy ball',  'hitting the deck', 'pounding the batsmen unrelentingly' and other such wonderful sounding jargon used by Messrs. Shastri and Co. It's actually good that Shastri is at home, or i'd be sick of hearing that Broad is tall, Friedel De Wet is bowling his heart out(gross) and Jacques Kallis is a class apart.

Alright, Coming back to Broad, it's better to see him change the length that he's been bowling. I think it's better if he sticks to being a fast bowler who moves it a bit off the seam, rather than try to bounce people out.
The fuller length does actually working for him. Plus, I'd like to see Kallis leave a few more deliveries which send the stumps cartwheeling,

Now all that's left to do is quit the annoying teenager impressions and get rid of the ridiculous hair cut and ,Voila!, we have a decent enough fast bowler. England need one.

Er... Ishant... you shouldn't really bowl there..

May be you shouldn't bowl at all, for a while. No matter where you land the ball... it always seems to find the middle of the bat and correspondingly a place outside the boundary..  The edges will evade the fielders, the skiers WILL be dropped. Yes, like you said after the fifth ball of your first over yesterday(it had gone away to the fence for the 4th boundary of the over), ... B@#$%$d, kya karun yaar?
Not very poetic, i must admit, but true.

The career graph has suddenly turned south and it seems to wanna stay there. Nothing seems to work.. and it's only logical to ask the question, B@#$%D, kya karun yaar?

I got the answer to that. It's time the selectors left you alone. I meant not like we want them to leave Harbhajan Singh alone and not pick him, ever.
You're 21, still have time and all that jazz. But it would help if you weren't put in the line of fire every alternate limited overs match. Things wont fall in place all of a sudden, in one match.
If he was dropped from the ODI team, it was for a reason right?
Then why pick him knowing he's not going alright at the moment?

So, all that's necessary is to head to the MRF academy or whichever institute is likely to be of any help and grind it out.
Surely, it cant get any worse for the Indian team, they can play Tyagi/VRV/whoever... but try and sort things out for Ishant. He still is the real deal.

Hopefully the selectors see some sense, let the kid find that Ishant that gobbled up Ricky at Perth and at Mohali. I'm sure batsmen will be left saying, b@#$%d kya karun yaar.

Just Do It

Vote that is.
World Cricket Watch,(i've never really heard of them before) have put together awards for cricket related websites. You know ...for, cricket blogs, cricket games, cricket news, cricket forums... the works.
AND BCC! are nominated for the best cricket blog. So you know who to vote for. Also nominated is Q's Well Pitched, which is excellent as well. But he's gone missing lately.

For the best new blog Ankit's Paddlesweep and Sid's Thoughts from the Dustbin are nominated too.
Though I think, Purna should have got a nomination too for Cricket Minded. inspite of her love for the saffas and hatred for Yuvraj Singh.
I should have got a nomination too.... for the slowest blog or summat... almost six months now and I'm struggling to reach 50 posts. I'm like the Shiv Chanderpaul of Blogging.

So get here like a tracer bullet(trademark Ravi Shastri) and vote. for BCC!.

and yes I will be back to blogging right after I clear these 10 million files off my table.
I'll be on to it in a flash.

P.S: I'm sorry guys but i've enabled comment moderation on the site, coz i was getting a lot of spam. I hope you guys don't mind a bit more effort while posting comments.

What do you mean 2 more days left?!!

Sri Lanka are already ahead by 165 runs at the end of the 3rd day's play. And, by the looks of it, will probably declare sometime during or after the 2nd session tomorrow with a 300+ lead.

Jayawardena, the former captain coasted to a double hundred, while the 'keeper Jayawardena is nearing his century. The 200 partnership between the two seems to have sqeezed out whatever enthusiasm there was in the fielders. if there was any.

what I fail to understand is how can Jayawardena bat with such great technique and still be a li'l boring to watch?

SL still scored 300 odd today, but it was more of grind-the-opponent routine, rather than a dash for victory. Fair enough. They still have a lot of time on their hands. You better not leave anyone even a window of oppurtunity on such tracks.

The Indian bowlers have been toothless over both days of play. especially today.

The field placing was mostly defensive throughout the day.

Harbhajan needs to be given a break, a dressing down, a friggin tatoo on his arm ... whatever.... to remind him it's TEST cricket. Flight the darn thing and stop firing it on middle and leg, damn it.

Mishra's looked mediocre really, may be the he's trying a bit to hard. Given the rare oppurtunities that he gets.

Zaheer, Ishant barely have made a difference. The bowling really needs to tighten up, if India want to be in with a chance in this series

The pressure will shift back to the batting now, given the lack of penetration with the ball. Sehwag and Gambhir need to put up a better start.

Somehow, i see this as a last series for VVS, just a gut feeling.

If the Lankans apply some pressure late in the evening tomorrow, i wouldn't think it's beyond India to collapse in a heap on a perfectly fine wicket.