Under the covers of victory

Under the covers of victory
[Indo Pak First Cricket Test]

What is best way to keep the drawbacks covered, surely it is success or victory because success is kid of thousand fathers and hence there is always ample support available on the victory roads unlike the failure or defeat where you has to face stiff criticism at all alone.

Indian cricket team is on the victory roads against Pakistan in on going series after winning the ODI, the “K” factor proved obstacle for the touring team and they lost the first test match at Delhi. Surely the interim time, before the start of the second test match at Calcutta will keep busy the think tank of Pakistani team in planning their plan of action to avoid the same result at Eden Garden, and indications are very clear from the statement of captain “ Our batsmen has to score at least 400 runs” .

I am not bothering about the planning of opposition because instead of worrying about it, I will prefer to keep self well prepare and with least weak points. I am strong supporter of the views you can win only on your strongest points and by taking the war into the fields of enemy. What the Delhi test has kept under the cover is the failure of our famous bating line, I am not thinking that Pakistan has also failed to score sufficient runs but the bating performance of Indians is surely an alarming call. If we look at Indian cricket team, bating is the strongest side of the team in the past decade or so and surely at Delhi it was not at the standards.

Losing 5 wickets for 90 odd runs in the first inning is not the reflection of bating strength we have, it was experience of Laxman and timely knock of Dhoni that India succeeded in first inning lead but how long we can trust bowlers to score runs also. Opening slot is the first problem, for a good building foundation is most essential and we are fortunate to have world’s most successful pair of opening batsmen in the for of Sachin and Sourav, though age is not favoring them but at least for next 1-2 both will be part of Indian team our failure lies here that instead of utilizing their experience we are trying to find altogether a new pair of players for the opening slot. The ideal situation will be pair one of the younger player like Gautam Gambhir, on the alternative bases, to open with either Sachin or sourav it will not only help the young one to get benefited from experience but will also help to accommodate Yuvraj or Uthappa in the middle order.

If I had been asked I will suggest the following team for the Kolkatta test.
Gautam Ganbhir / Wasim Jaffar [any one]
Sourav Ganguli
Yuvraj / Uthapa [any one]
Sachin
Rahul / Laxman / Rohit Sharma [any two]
Dhoni
Irfan
Kumbale
Zahir / Munaff - Harbhajan / Murali Kartik [Any two]

My playing eleven will be
1] Gautam Gambhir
2] Sourav Ganguli
3] Rahul Dravid
4] Sachin Tendulkar
5] Yuvraj
6] Laxman
7] Dhoni
8] Irfan
9] Kumbale
10] Zahir
11] I will leave this for the choice of captain from the remaining three bowlers. Though considering KolKotta environment I might have opted for the speedster because there are Sachin and Yuvraj in the team to assist Kumble in the spin attack but Sourav’s performance as bowler in Delhi test is prompting me to leave this spot for the captain’s choice.

On the winning doorstep

On the winning doorstep
[Kotala Cricket Test]

India is just on the doorstep step of victory in the Kotala test against the arch rival Pakistan, when the stumps were put down to ground in the Delhi to mark the end of day’s play on the fourth day of first test match.

It is now only matter of time for Indian victory. If we look at last four days surely the fortunes fluctuated a few time but surely it was not away from the Indian victory. The script of Indian victory started on the day one itself, thanks to rear guard action by the Sami, Pakistani fast bowler, otherwise it was not possible for the Pakistani team to take their first inning beyond the two hundred mark. Though famous Indian bating line collapsed and Munaf, the new ball bowler of Indian attack has not lived with the hopes from him but still India managed to set a victory target just over the two hundreds in the pre lunch session on the forth day of match.

Most of the cricketing wisdom of country is criticizing Dinesh Kartik, as his failure kept on going in the second inning also but no body seems to think about his inclusion in the playing eleven. We have to keep it in the mind Dhoni was not hundred percentages fit on the eve of match and there were possibilities of his injury growing and forcing him to remain away from the wicket keeping. Most of the former players and commentators are blaming Saurav and Laxman for non selection of inform Yuvraj but I guess it was not either Saurav or Laxman but the injury of Dhoni which proved hurdle for the non selection of Yuvraj and team management was forced to select Dinesh Kartik in the playing eleven, otherwise surely Saurav or sachin has to be partner of wasim Jaffar to open the bating.

Kumbale has proved that there is nothing to replace the experience. Most of the critics of games are surprised to see the maturity and timely actions of Jumbo in his first test of captaincy. Who will opt Saurav over the Munaff, when the ball is still with shine but Kumble went with this and Saurav lived with expectation by claiming two wickets on the forth day. It is also against the set norms of the game to write a victory before the last ball is bowled and Indians have a tendency of making hard to simple looking wins but still I am looking forward to an Indian win in the pre lunch session on the fifth and final day.
[Written Yesterday]

Added Today
As the destiny script was written on day one and in the pre lunch session on day forth, India took less than half an hour on fifth and final day to go up in the series with a 1-0 lead but I feel sorry for saurav who fail to add yet another half century to his illustrated carrier and Shoaib Akhtar who could not add yet another five wicket haul to his credit.

New way of getting out

New way of getting out

Change is the name of nature everything is bound to change with time and rules and regulations or the playing norms of games are also changing. As for as cricket is concerned it not just another game [though hocky is the national game] for the Indian it is even more than passion. Since last few years a new way of getting out is unofficialy being added to the cricket rules and it is "FALLING PRAY TO UMPIRES DECISION"

the most recent illustration is the dismissal of Sourav Ganguli at oval yesterday. THE BALL WAS SWINGING ON THE GROUND BUT IT WAS GOING STRAIGHT IN THE MIND OF UMPIRE EVEN AFTER A CLEAR MEATING OF INDIAN BAT AND ENGLISH DUKE BALL" so his finger went up and Ganguli forced to leave the field being judged and decleared out as LPW. Now even if go by the famous idiom Human Thy name is error , than if the players are being punished for violation of rules in the form of deduction in match fess or bann for next 2-3 matches , why the same set of rules is not implemented for the umpires? Does we wish to say that players are not human or the umpires can't be categoried as human beings? This is a serious matter which needs to be addressed seriously by the authorities of the game. It is good thing that we Indians believe in luck so Ganguli returned back to pavalion cursing his luck.