Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

He entered with style, made a comeback in style and left in style, leaving people asking for more. There are a bagful of achievements to his credit but what Sourav Chandidas Ganguly will be remembered most for is the revolutionary change in mindset he brought to Indian cricket and Indian cricketers.

Previously when Indian teams walked on to the turf outside the sub-continent, everyone thought that a draw would be a more than satisfactory result. It was Sourav who inspired his men into playing fearless cricket and it is his legacy that Mahendra Singh Dhoni carries forward.

Tears barely escaped surfacing as an emotional “Maharaja” crossed the rope one last time in the India jersey at Nagpur. It was a befitting gesture from Dhoni to let Sourav lead the side for the last few overs. As a fan of cricket in general and Indian team in particular it was nice to see the younger lot acknowledge the contribution and achievements of the seniors.

Some news channel reported that the team will be throwing a big party for Dada at the team hotel and that Dhoni had also exchanged his Captain’s suite at the team hotel with Ganguly’s. It is a small but sweet gesture but one that would seldom cross minds of most people in the world.

He deserves every bit of it. After all he is the man who has the biggest hand in the state of happy affairs that Indian cricket finds itself today in. We have always had the talent but players have lacked the tenacity and the aggressive attitude required to tumble tough opponents. Ganguly instilled this tenacity and the self belief that, “Yes we can”.

While his famous T-shirt furling act at the Lords’ balcony demonstrated the tit for tat aggression he stood for, his persistence to include Harbhajan in the 2001 test series against Australia accounted for the belief he had in himself and his men. He provided impetus with attacking shots at the head as India were about to rewrite history with their successful chase of England’s 325 at Lords in the Natwest final.

People may remember him as the “Leader par excellence” and the “God of the off side” but equal charisma lay in his effortless clearing of the fence especially the demolition with disdain of left arm bowlers.

He may have retired and might not be a part of the Indian dressing room but for us Dada is not a cricketer but a phenomenon which will run with the Indian team till they are ready to play aggressive and ready to take the bull by the horns and whenever they say, “Yes we can”.

Mohit Goyal
http://goyalmohit.blogspot.com

Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting could be in for some bashing from all cricketing corners including the media because of his baffling strategy to up the over-rate when everybody thought that Australia would look to bundle out the Indians and get one hand on the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

India were cruising along in the first session on the fourth day of the Nagpur test but lost momentum after wickets fell in a heap after lunch. Tendulkar was run out at the stroke of tea, leaving India tottering at 166 for the loss of six wickets. India were just 252 runs ahead and everyone awaited intriguing two hours of cricket post-tea. The experts predicted a quick brushing of the Indian tail by the Aussie pacers, especially with the ball reversing.

Interestingly the proceedings started with all spin from Cameron White and Jason Krejza. When Lee expressed his desire to bowl, Michael Clarke told him that they were nine overs behind the rate. Krejza kept bowling from one end while White was replaced after two overs by Michael Hussey, who was later replaced by a not 100 percent Michael Clarke.

The Australians bowled 17 overs in one hour but were still seven overs behind the rate. It was only after 100 minutes into the third session that Watson was brought into the attack. Indian skipper MS Dhoni combined with Harbhajan to put a century stand as both the batsmen raised their fifties. Indians were finally bowled out for 295 leaving Australia a target of 382 at more than four runs an over.

Had the Aussies gone in for a kill after tea and restricted India to even 40 runs less they would have had a smaller target and much more time and overs to get there. International captains need to give a serious look at their teams’ bowling rates but this tactic of Ponting is beyond brains. He has not been up to the task of getting overs in time for months now and its been too many times now but he responded today in the way he did only because a one test match suspension hung over him.

Is Ponting’s not playing a test match, bigger than a test win for Australia, a test series for Australia, the Border-Gavaskar trophy for Australia. Eversince I have watched cricket, I have been a big fan of the Aussies putting team before individuals and at times been critical of Indians not doing so. But I doubt if Mr. Ponting has any explanation to what he did.

On the other hand, I just watched and admired Mahendra Singh Dhoni who ran his heart out between the wickets even with a cramped hamstring. India are already ahead in the series and with seven one dayers against England knocking at the door, Dhoni could have chosen to cut out the tight twos and threes. But he chose otherwise and showed us signs of some brilliant things to expect from him and his team in the future.

Even after the tactics that they employed, Australia fell well behind the desired over-rate. The spotlight is on Ponting right now and it remains to be seen what answers he has on offer or are we counting down his days?

Dr. Mohit Goyal

Indian team is down, although not out of it yet but they will certainly need to come out all guns blazing to make a comeback after the crushing defeat in the first test. They managed to get just six wickets bowling for almost six sessions and were bowled out twice within four sessions. The more crucial thing for the Indians would be to be up mentally for the next challenge that is just four days away.

The players need to be motivated and fans need to keep patience as these are definitely the best test players in India. Let us analyze the performance of Team India members and what could they do or not do to turn the tables around.

Openers

Gautam Gambhir must be thanking his stars that the team doesn’t have his substitute at hand otherwise he could have been thrown out, not for his failure to score but for his attitude. He got out in both innings jumping out to Muralidharan, caught at short cover in the first innings and stumped in the second. He needs to show a bit more responsibility and resilience.

Virender Sehwag is one batsman whose batting style cannot be changed. And, a team can afford a luxurious batsman like him if they have as solid a middle order as India does. He was caught in the deep trying to pull Kulasekara in the first innings and got a rough decision in the second innings. A review request of the bowling of Murali by Jayawardene turned against Sehwag as Rudi Koertzen missed the ball’s deflection off the front pad.

Flop err Fab Four

Eyes refused to believe the scenes as the fabulous four succumbed to spin bowling from Murali and Mendis. Bowled through the gate and bat-pad on front foot; these are not the modes of dismissal one associates with great players of spin. All of them were completely at sea against the rookie Mendis. Perhaps they were in over-confidence and will surely need to watch and re-watch tapes of Mendis’ bowling.

These are great players and it is just a matter of time before they strike gold. Captain Kumble would do better not to shuffle them and must look to play Dravid at three. Sachin will look to play positively while Dravid will probably drop anchor. Dravid hasn’t ever been vocal on or off the field and is probably the biggest under-sung hero of cricket. As always he will let his bat do the talking and is still the favorite to come up with the goods.

The person who is under the severest of pressures is Sourav Ganguly but he probably has learnt to live life the tougher way. He doesn’t have the best of technique against the fast bowlers and the fact that he is not much impressive against the spinners either has remained under-observed due to his big hitting against slow left arm bowlers.

Wicket Keeper

Dinesh Karthik had an pathetic outing both behind and in front of the wickets. He failed to stop the ball in either role. Every player has bad days but Karthik must be shown the door at least for the next test match not because of the poor performance but for his attitude while batting. A kid in cricketing circles, he was trying to lift Murali out of park on every ball. What on hell was up his grey matter only he can tell.

People have voiced about giving an emergency call to Dhoni but the man needs some rest and it would be foolish to think that he would have scored against a bowling which toppled the likes of Tendulkar and Dravid.

Pacers

There was absolutely nothing in the pitch for the faster men. In fact Zaheer and Ishant did a great job picking up four wickets. If the pitch at Galle offers the fast bowlers any help they are the two Indians most likely to make full use of it.

Spinners

Kumble and Harbhajan were disappointing to say the least. They failed to bowl enough wicket taking deliveries. Both of them will need to show more character and hit the right areas consistently. Adding to their poor form they had to bowl on placid day two and three pitches and the Sri Lankan batsmen handled them extremely efficiently.

© IPL Cricket Forum

Fact File – Asia Cup

• Sri Lanka has hosted Asia Cup the most number of times that is three. UAE and Bangladesh have been hosts twice and India once. Pakistan were to host the fifth edition in 1993 but it was cancelled and now Pakistan get to host it for the first time.
• Pakistan hosts he 9th edition of the tournament this year. Sri Lanka have the proud distinction of reaching the finals of the cup in all eight previous editions right from its inception in 1984.
• India have won the tournament four times, while the cup has been bagged by Sri Lanka thrice and by Pakistan once.
• The first Asia Cup held in 1984 in Sharjah was a round robin tournament involving India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in which each team played the other once. India won the cup by winning both its matches.
• The second edition in Sri Lanka in 1986 had a final after the three round robin matches. Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh participated in the tournament and Sri Lanka won the cup by defeating Pakistan in the final.
• Bangladesh in 1988 hosted the third edition which involved India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who played one match against each other and India and Sri Lanka advanced to the finals where India emerged victors.
• The fourth edition in 1990-91 in India, Pakistan pulled out and so the teams involved were India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Matches were played on a round robin format with each team playing the other once. India retained the cup on home soil.
• In the fifth edition saw the four biggies lock horns again in Sharjah in 1995. India beat Sri Lanka in the finals to win their fourth and last Asia Cup trophy till date
• With the same four teams involved Sri Lanka took revenge in Sri Lanka in 1997 beating India in the finals.
• The seventh edition in Bangladesh in 2000 saw Pakistan win their maiden title beating Sri Lanka in the Grand Final.
• Hong Kong and UAE were the additions in the eighth edition in Sri Lanka in 2008. India and Sri Lanka reached the finals where the hosts lifted the cup winning by 25 runs.
• The ninth edition to be held in Pakistan from 24th June to 6th July will have Sri Lanka with Bangladesh and UAE in Group A and India, Pakistan together with Hong Kong in Group B. Matches of Group B will be played at Lahore while the all of Group B, the second phase of the tournament involving top two teams from each group and the final will be played at Karachi.

Dr. Mohit Goyal © IPL Cricket Forum