Cricket and Beyond contd....

Hi all,

Hope all of you guys had a happy weekend. A weekend of superb cricket. The happy thought of being able to see the test match for 2 days without any hazzles, alone made me happy. To add to it, there was the Sri Lanka and the England Test series and EPL to boot.

For all you ladies and gentlemen who don't know, I am a ardent Liverpool fan. I also closely follow the other matches of good teams like Arsenal and Man Utd, but i try really hard to see LFC's matches Live. More on the club i support in my next blog.

Be ready Aussies! Here we come!!!
That will be what our batsmen will be telling. Honestly, we expect Dravid to perform well when India's winning in tests. But in this scenario, even without Dravid's contribution, we're in a position to win the series against Pakistan. That i guess is a bad sign for Aussies. There are 3 reasons for it. The first reason being, all our batsmen coming to form prior to a 4 test series down-under. The second being, Dravid's bad form. Dravid is a fighter. He'll make his inclusion count one way or another. He's never been out of form for a long time and that too in tests, not more than a series. I am talking of the law of averages here. He's failed in the Pakistan series by his standards and surely he'll be a hit in Australia. The third being the unavailability of Mcgrath and Warne. The Aussie bowling line-up was too hot to handle for the Sri Lankans but they will be in for some spanking when India tours Australia. The Indian middle order is too good for the Aussie bowling line-up. Without the experience of the two greats, the aussie bowlers, donot have depth and experience. Here again, Mcgrath's loss will be more critcal than Warne's. Brett Lee is good but not really good enough to take on the Indian middle order. The rest of the bowling is really very new. The news that Mcgill may not play, may be a boon to them. They will now probably play Hogg in his place. And Mr Hogg, from what i have seen, is the only Aussie spinner of my time to have troubled India atleast for a significant amount of time.

Again to even things out, there are many factors which nullify this superiority.
The Aussie fielding - The Aussies can nullify the positives the Indian batsmen bring to the table by their own batting and surpass them by their fielding. Bad fielding and catching has been the bane of India since time immemorial. The Aussie team will save say 40 runs per innings and Indian team will concede say 30 runs per innings. The deficit here itself is around 70 runs per innings. Adding dropped catches to it will surely tilt the equation towards Australia. Indian batsmen, however good they are, are not good enough to nullify this difference.
Aussie batting- The formidable Aussie batting will be something to reckon with. Most of this responsibility will have to be shouldered by the Captain Kumble and Bhajji. The pitches in Australia will not break down as fast as Indian pitches and they stay true till tea on 4th day or the whole match sometimes. So some part of the load must be taken by the new ball bowlers. Bhajji may not play in some tests if the pitch suits pace bowling and playing 3 fast bowlers is inevitable. The pace battery needs the service of a fit Zaheer and Sreesanth. Zaheer might get fit for the series, but i worry for Sreesanth. I hope he gets well and starts on the boxing day test. He's one of the best test opening bowlers i have seen in recent times. Except for his 'Actions', after picking up wickets, which are embarrassing, he's a really talented bowler. Everybody have their own idiosyncrasies and we have to respect his and move on. Come to think of it, one can feel, why doesn't he do that himself and respect others. Who know, he may turn out to be good and respectful later in his career.Back to Cricket, he's a must if India's to win a test in Australia. Zaheer, the other vital new ball bowler also needs to be at his best against the Aussies. In case Bhajji doesn't play, the third seamer might be, Pathan, Munaf or RP. Preferably RP or Pathan. On the field, Munaf looks like he's gonna die any moment and bowling deliveries at medium speeds of 130Km/H is sucking the blood right out of him. He did not look fit in the Pakistan series. His fitness worries have been continuing. Pathan brings with him the all-rounder tag. RP brings the genuine pace and lift with him. Let the better player for the situation play.

Hmmm now the present match at hand, India lost momentum and drew the match in Kolkota. They should not do that here in B-lore. The same pair of Misbah and Kamran are playing now. Hope they get out and the team collapses. Preferably, they should get all out by 450. India should play out the day score some 200 quickly. Declare half an hour or an hour before stumps on 4th day. The we should hope, our spinners can take the 10 Pakistani wickets. On a fifth day pitch in Bangalore, i hope it won't be tough. All the best India........

Ciao