THE OTHER LAXMAN WAS NEEDED

Spoilt an already-bad MCG record!

The match fluctuated through the first 3 days, but not by much. At no point in time during those 3 days of the Boxing Day Test between Australia and India at the MCG could you say that a particular team has a clear, definite and big advantage.

On the 4th day though, only one team turned up and walked away with the match. While the match was very evenly balanced at the start of Day 4, and remained so when Michael Hussey fell in the morning, it started shifting in Australia's favour with the last wicket partnership of Pattinson and Hilfenhaus. And while Australia kept on making inroads when they came on to bowl, they sealed the deal when Pattinson had Laxman caught attempting his favourite wristy flick.

That wicket meant that two of India's Big Three were back in the pavilion. But more importantly, it sealed the deal for Australia in my mind because the wrong Laxman had turned up there and departed.

After Day 3 ended, my mind told me that Laxman would be India's key player during the chase. The thing to be seen on Day 4 would be which Laxman turns up - the one who averages 14.25 (after this match) at the MCG in his 4 Boxing Day Tests there or the one who averages 107.00 in 10 fourth innings chases between the 2007-08 and 2011-12 tours of Australia. Out of those 10 innings, 4 had resulted in Indian wins, 4 matches had been drawn and 2 were lost.

Sadly for India, the former Laxman turned up just when we needed the latter one after 3 early wickets. Well at least at the SCG, lets hope that this Laxman and this Tendulkar turn up... and most importantly, the bowlers can continue to bowl as many overs as they bowled at the MCG and help India level the series!

INJURY REPLACEMENT RULE ANALYSED

Just before the Kenya vs Canada match, in the pre-match cricket show anchored by Harsha Bhogle, there was a discussion pertaining to the inclusion of Michael Hussey and Eoin Morgan as replacements for the injured Doug Bollinger and Kevin Pietersen respectively. Sunil Gavaskar made a very pertinent point on air at this point.

He said that, in his opinion, players who have been transferred out of thesquad of 15 for an ICC tournament due to injury reasons should not be allowed to get back in if they are fit again during the tournament. His biggest concern was that this rule can be misused by teams.

I have given a bit of thought to this subject and written an article that has been kindly published by FreehitCricket over here. Please do read it, and let me know your views.

300*

It's coming a couple of weeks later than I had originally intended... but here it is. This is my 300th blog post on CRIC - SIS, and on this special occasion, I have decided to select my 10 favourite sporting moments of 2010. The 10 below are listed chronologically... because try as hard as I might, I just couldn't rank them in an order of preference.

1. MICHAEL HUSSEY STEALS IT FROM PAKISTAN AT SYDNEY

6th January 2010

There may have been lots of questions asked about this match later... but when it happened, it was incredible. I was certain of a Pakistani win for most part of the match, but one of my friends was certain that if there is any team in the world that can throw away a match from such a position of strength, it is Pakistan. And throw away they did, as Michael Hussey scripted a century for himself and a win for his team that really couldn't be deemed possible.




2. 200* (147)

24th February 2010

This one had to be there! How could it not be there! 147 balls, 25 fours, 3 sixes... and 200 runs! Sachin Tendulkar created history (once again!) at Gwalior and accomplished a feat that no man had ever done before him... and Double Century in ODIs. Like it's said, many have scaled the peak of Mt. Everest... but no one looks beyond Sir Edmund Hillary!




3. INIESTA PAINTS THE RAINBOW NATION RED

11th July 2010

It happened late in the second half of extra time when Andres Iniesta finally helped Spain breach the defense of the Dutch team. And as soon as it happened, we knew it! Spain had become the Football World Champions (in addition to being the reigning European Champions) in South Africa. Spain was one of the three teams I had backed right from the start to win the tournament... and they did!




4. PAKISTAN ERASE THE SYDNEY NIGHTMARES AT LEEDS

24th July 2010

Usually, when a team is bundled out for 88 on the first day of a Test match, there can be only one result possible. But with this match, no one could be quite certain. Eventually though, Pakistan managed to beat Australia at the end. This match comes in my list because of events that preceded it. Pakistan was thrashed at Lord's by Australia and Shahid Afridi resigned from captaincy. Salman Butt took over and had this amazing result straightaway. Whatever may have conspired behind the scenes, there is no doubt that at that moment, Salman Butt had won a lot of credibility for Pakistan cricket (unlike another Butt).




5. WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS: AISAM-UL-HAQ QURESHI

10th September 2010

It was written somewhere up there... this entire journey! The unheralded 16th seed pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (alias the Indo-Pak Express) reached the finals of the last Grand Slam of the year... the US Open at Flushing Meadows. Though the scoreline might not suggest it, it was a very hard fought match with both teams throwing everything they had at each other before the better and the more experience team prevailed. The match in itself was brilliant, but what Aisam said after the match was even better. It was heart-warming to see the standing ovation that Aisam got when he finished his speech that told the world that Pakistanis are not terrorists! What a way for Aisam and Rohan to finish their campaign!




6. RAFA!

12th September 2010

Rafael Nadal became just the 7th man in history to complete a Career Grand Slam (and the youngest to get there as well) by winning the US Open at Flushing Meadows. A tremendous final, a brilliant opponent in the form of Serbian Novak Djokovic... and Rafa capped a brilliant year for himself and his country Spain!




7. LAXMAN = HOUDINI

13th October 2010

Even Houdini wouldn't have managed the escape that VVS Laxman engineered for India in the company of first Ishant Sharma and then Pragyan Ojha (and of course, Suresh Raina all the while). It was the closest Test match in India after the tied Test of 1986 between the same teams - India and Australia! There is no way this list could have been completed without this event. And yes, CRIC - SIS had it highest ever number of hits after this match... so that's another reason for the match to be there in the list.




8. CHE ARRIVES AT THE BIG STAGE

13th October 2010

I had waited for young Cheteshwar Pujara's chance for a long time. When he did get his chance, he also got a wretched shooter third ball from Mitchell Johnson. His Test career couldn't have started with much worse luck. But he came back... given a chance to bat at No. 3 in what could have been a tricky run chase, Che impressed everyone by taking the attack to Australia and when he reached his half-century in the illustrious company of Sachin Tendulkar, we all knew that Che had arrived!




9. VETTEL PULLS OFF THE UNEXPECTED

14th November 2010

The day dawned at Abu Dhabi with anticipation high in the Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber camps. Though Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were also in the race, nobody gave them much of a chance. At the end of that race, it was Vettel who sported the biggest smile as he realised that he was the World Champion... the only German other than Michael Schumacher to lay his hands on the sport's biggest prize.




10. THE URN IN THE BAG, THE SPRINKLER ON THE FIELD

29th December 2010

England managed to retain the Ashes away from home for the first time in almost a quarter of a century... so the celebration was bound to be different! And different it was... the Sprinkler dance! What a way to finish a brilliant year for England... a year where they also won their first ICC Trophy - the Twenty20 World Championship.




I do know that there are a few moments that were very close to making it to my list... but have missed out! There was Razzaq's monstrous hitting to steal a game for Pakistan, there was Afridi's monstrous hitting to almost steal a game for Pakistan... there was Chris Gayle's triple hundred, there was India's win at Durban... there was Barcelona's 5-0 thrashing of Real Madrid, and there were a lot of others.

But the list endshere... and I do hope that my readers have enjoyed my journey of 300 blogs as much as I have enjoyed writing them. Now for the next target: Brian Lara's 400!

ODI TEAM OF THE YEAR 2010

Here's my pick for the ODI team for the year 2010...


01. Hasim Amla (1058 runs in 15 matches @ Avg 75.57 and SR 104.23, 100s-5, 50s-4) - SA
02. Tillakaratne Dilshan (921 runs in 20 matches @ Avg 51.16 and SR 988.82, 100s-3, 50s-4) - SL
03. Virat Kohli (995 runs in 25 matches @ Avg 47.38 and SR 85.11, 100s-3, 50s-7) - Ind
04. AB De Villiers (964 runs in 16 matches @ Avg 80.33 and SR 102.11, 100s-5, 50s-4) - SA
05. Kumar Sangakkara (726 runs in 17 matches @ Avg 48.40 and SR 84.41, 100s-0, 50s-7, Cat-27, St-4) (c)(wk) - SL
06. Michael Hussey (825 runs in 24 matches @ Avg 45.83 and SR 91.56, 100s-0, 50s-6) - Aus
07. Shakib Al Hasan (27 matches, 787 runs @ Avg 32.79, SR 80.14, 100s-1, 50s-5, 46 wkts @ Avg 26.00, ER 4.80) - Ban
08. Graeme Swann (28 wkts in 14 matches @ Avg 18.67 and ER 4.25) - Eng
09. Stuart Broad (30 wkts in 16 matches @ Avg 24.86 and ER 5.21) - Eng
10. Ryan Harris (40 wkts in 16 matches @ Avg 15.17 and ER 4.63) - Aus
11. Doug Bollinger (28 wkts in 19 matches @ Avg 23.39 and ER 4.36) - Aus

DEAR MR. PONTING

Twenty20 tournaments should have best-of-three finals: Ricky Ponting

That was the headline of a news item on the Times of India website today. Typical, isn't it? Sour grapes, I call it. Khatte Angoor.

Ponting said that he felt sad for the boys after they lost the finals because they had won every other match in the tournament. Just one loss after six wins should not rob them of the title is what he felt. So here's a letter to Ricky Ponting expressing my views:

Dear Mr. Ponting,

Of all the people on earth, you are the last one I would have expected to make such a remark. You have won 3 World Cups and 2 Champions Trophy and numerous other ODI tournament finals... you pride yourself in the fact that cometh the hour, your team comes out strong and wins. The Aussies pride themselves in their ability to win the 'big matches'. So why are you whining now, Mr. Ponting?

Had Michael Hussey not managed those 18 runs in the last over from Saeed Ajmal, would you have said that the semi-finals should also have been best-of-three affair? After all, Australia had won 5 straight matches till then and were clearly a better team than Pakistan.

In the end, both England and Australia had just one loss each over the duration of the World Twenty20 Championship. So is it not correct that England should be called the 'Champions' because they won the 'big match'.

I know you hates losing, Mr. Ponting (who doesn't?)... and your boys hate losing too! But there is a term that you often talk about... its called the 'spirit of the game'. Taking defeat in your stride graciously is a part of upholding that very 'spirit'. Please take a note, Mr. Ponting.

Cheers.

CAPTAINCY CONTRASTS

When Paul Collingwood announced that England would field after winning the toss, many minds (atleast in India) went back to that crucial day in March 2003 when Sourav Ganguly had made a similar decision against the same opponents at the Wanderers, Johannesburg. It was arguably the worst decision that Ganguly took in his stint as a captain.

My mind went back to another big final on the same ground at Johannesburg not so long back ago. In the finals of Indian Premier League 2009 held in South Africa, Anil Kumble took the same decision as Paul Collingwood (and Ganguly before him) against another Australian captain. And well, the result was not good for him either.

But the two Aussie captains then were strong players... they led from the front. Unlike the younger Michael Clarke, who, simply put, lacks the ability to play good Twenty20 cricket. So despite his leadership abilities, he will always be a liability to any batting lineup. Ponting scored a World Cup winning century after lossing the toss and batting first. Adam Gilchrist may have gone for a duck... but he had played an IPL semi-final winning knock just one match ago... when his whirlwind knock toppled the table-toppers and the favourites Delhi Daredevils. Clarke scored a laboured innings, ran out David Warner, and his eventual 27-ball 27 turned out to be his highest of the tournament. See the difference?

And now I'll come to another point that few have highlighted. Clarke's captaincy. I have read a lot of bloggers, media reports and articles that have found his captaincy impressive. In this tournament as well, many have lauded him for his rotation of bowlers and field settings. It was bound to happen considering that Australia was unbeaten till the finals. But for me, Clarke's captaincy was rubbish.

Firstly, in my books, a captain's position in the team should be without doubt. Pup's case is a whole lot different. He himself doubts his place in Australia's Twenty20 squad going by what he had to say to the press after the loss.

Secondly, a captain should be able to come up with a strong Plan B when his Plan A is not working. All through the tournament, Australia's game plan has been to unleash its fearsome bowling attack on batting lineups... and watch them disintegrate. When for the first time in the tournament, a team found a solution to this strategy as Pakistan did in the semi-finals, he looked clueless and allowed Pakistan to score a massive 190+ score. Had it not been for the brilliance of the freak Mr. Cricket Michael Hussey, Clarke would have boarded an earlier flight back home (there is no volcanic ash on the way)!

Thirdly, any player should be able to learn from his mistakes... more so a captain. I had the same complaint of some of the Indian players in this World Twenty20... I have the same complaint of Clarke. He had chance to formulate a string Plan B after scraping through against Pakistan. But he did not. Was it overconfidence? We may never know. But England exploited his lack of Plan B to attack his backup bowlers like Watson and finished the match as undisputed champs. Doesn't look so good when he is under fire, does he, Watson! It's very good to bank on the pressure created by your extremely good fast bowlers and take wickets. But it takes greater ability and a bigger heart to create the pressure yourself and take wickets.

Paul Collingwood, on the other hand, did a far better job. He entrusted with Luke Wright with the 16th over... when Australia had started gaining momentum with the help of their future captain, Cameron White. Wright, who had not bowled a single ball in the entire tournament, bowled a tight 5-run over that also included the wicket of White. Many would pin it down to luck. But what Collingwood did next was not luck... it was I believe the best move he made! Many captains would have been tempted to give Luke Wright another go in the 18th over and maybe, even the 20th over.

We will never know if that would have been a good move or not. But very often, we have seen the backup bowlers smashed at the death on being given that one additional over. Collingwood avoided that fate. The 18th and 20th over went for 21 runs in total, with a wicket of David Hussey... but we never know what Wright would have conceded. It's always better to trust the performers who have brought you to that stage, rather than do something different and mess it up.

Sachin Tendulkar promoted Harbhajan Singh up the batting order in the finals of IPL 3... in a move that backfired horribly. Questions were raised about why you'd want a Harbhajan batting before Pollard. Collingwood ensured that such questions would not need to be answered.

Little less than a week ago, I had predicted an Australian win over Sri Lanka at Kensington Oval in the finals. My prediction went horribly wrong. But I am still happy... because the better team won! Australian supporters may say that they were better than England through the tournament... and that England were almost knocked out of the tournament by Ireland. But had they gotten two full matches at Guyana, you never know what would have unfolded. In my opinion, England was better than Australia through the tournament because better teams may lose sometimes... but never with 3 overs to spare!

CSK HAS MOTIVATION, BUT IS MI TOO STRONG?

Tonight’s encounter at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium promises to be a mouth-watering clash. An in-form Chennai Super Kings side takes on the best team of the tournament so far, Mumbai Indians.

But then, even the last match at Ferozeshah Kotla, New Delhi – between Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore – had promised a lot. In the end, it turned out to be pretty easy win for the hosts. I have a feeling that the CSK v MI match will be a better contest because I don’t expect MS Dhoni or Sachin Tendulkar to make any selection error like the one made by Anil Kumble at Kotla.

Last time when these two teams met, Suresh Raina played a brilliant knock, well-supported by S Badrinath. MI’s bowling, after grabbing the 2 early wickets, looked toothless (for once in the tournament). However, MI’s batting, led by the Master, chased down a seemingly daunting target of 181 with consummate ease. Sachin Tendulkar has hit only 1 six in this tournament thus far, and it came in that particular match against Muttiah Muralitharan when he danced down the track and deposited the wily Lankan over long-on boundary.

The hosts have a much better look to their squad now with the addition of Doug Bollinger. His much-talked-about ability to hurry on to the batsmen caused a lot of discomfort to the RR batsmen, and effectively won the match for CSK. I don’t know if MS Dhoni has thought about dropping Matthew Hayden. Apart from that one blistering innings with the Mongoose, he has not contributed a lot at the top. Hayden can be replaced by Mike Hussey, who is also an exceptional fielder – certainly much better than Hayden in the field. Hayden’s absence from the team might even help in dousing the competitive spirit of Harbhajan Singh, who just loves competing against this and few other particular Aussies.

The visitors, on the other hand, have a very settled look to their squad. They have always found someone who raised his hand up during sticky situations and got them out of it. The youngsters have fired well, and the bowling attack is one of the best in this tournament. However, CSK will be buoyed by the fact that MI has looked fallible in the last few matches. That they have managed to come out on top of such situations is a different matter altogether.

Chepauk, the stadium as well as the crowd, has always been kind to Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh. But then, Twenty20 is a completely different cup of tea. The motivation is a lot more for the hosts, who not only want to enter the top-4 once again, but also seek revenge for their defeat at Brabourne Stadium. But then, once SRT has the bat in his hands, he does not need to search anywhere for motivation. It’s there within.