Preview: T20 World Cup 2010 Semifinal 1

Thursday, May 13, 2010 ajantha mendis, craig kieswetter, cricket, england, eoin morgan, mahela jayawardene, michael yardy, pieterson, preview, rishabh bablani, sanath jayasuriya, sri lanka, suraj randiv, T20 world cup No Comments

After that disappointing end to India's World Cup, we now move on to the semis. Two unbeaten in-form teams are taking on two teams that haven't looked their best, but have managed to win at the right times to progress.

England take on Sri Lanka today in what should be an enthralling clash. England's batting unit looks in top shape - power hitters at the top (Lumb, Kieswetter, Pieterson), followed by Collingwood and Morgan, two batsmen who can consolidate as well as turn it on later in the innings. Then come the hard-hitting all-rounders starting with Luke Wright and followed by Bresnan, Yardy and Swann. The pace attack of Broad and Sidebottom is also solid, while Yardy has been an exceptional second spinner, overshadowing Swann for once.

The problem for England will be the slowness of the pitch, something that will certainly favor the Lankans. Suraj Randiv has been great but he is no Murali, and Mendis may be brought in to assist him. Jayasuriya may be retained for his bowling though he could shift back down the order. He seems to be ending his career the same way it began, in the lower order, doing more bowling than batting. Let go, dude.

Sri Lanka may have started the tournament being kept afloat by Jayawardene, but gradually the top order has looked in form. Dilshan and Sangakarra are scoring again, and Mathews and Kapugedera have been handy finishers. Malinga and Welegedara are leaking runs though, that will worry them, and the latter may lose his place if Perera is to play.

This looks like an evenly matched game, but I'm going to go with England on this, if only to see a team that isn't afraid of the pace play Australia in the final.

KKR pull off surprise win, are still surprised

Saturday, April 10, 2010 ajantha mendis, cricket, delhi daredevils, interblogactic ipl battle, ipl, iqbal abdulla, kolkata knight riders, kurt cobain, rishabh bablani, sourav ganguly No Comments

Ravi Shastri: How do you feel about the victory, Sourav?

Saurav Ganguly (dazed): We won.

RS: And how does it feel?

SG: Hmm? We won. We won! Hahaha!

RS: One does get the feeling...

SG: Shut up, don't spoil it (takes shirt off)

I can think of one two very important phases in this match, that possibly indicated that KKR were on the 'inspired' side of the coin today, and not the 'crap' one.

The first phase was when they were batting, and Gayle wasn't getting the boundaries, Ganguly was. The old Ganguly, stepping out, backing away and hitting the ball through the offside - his perennial strengths. He dealt with The Great Ceiling (new Maharoof nick) very easily, and even hit Dictator Dan for three fours in an over. You won't hear this very often, but Ganguly was being the aggressor so that Gayle could find his rhythm.

They both got out soon after another, Gayle for 40 and Ganguly for 56, and B-Mac for a quickfire 6, but KKR still managed 181 (something they have been doing with no fuss) after some late mayhem from Manoj Tiwary and Angelo Mathews.

Then came the second key phase of the match - Ashok Dinda's first over of the innings. He bowled a succession of quick, skiddy dot balls at David Warner, finally hitting the stumps off the fifth ball to end Pitbull's misery. Considering the highly jumpy nature of his run-up, the skiddiness is pretty weird, but it works for him.

Some Viru-Gauti magic threatened to end the match early, but Ganguly was an old livewire on the field and he ran out the latter part of that duo with a direct hit. Sehwag blazed away a while longer, but his dismissal was the starting point of a middle-order collapse, with Sri Lankan rookie huntsman Mendis and leftie spinner Iqbal Abdulla in the thick of the action.

No one actually knows what KKR's chances of making the semis are, as they've settled into a comfortably unpredictable rhythm. If they win all their matches, they stand a good chance of qualifying for the semis, and in the words of Kurt Cobain, "Well, never mind."

They play BRC today.

Ravindra Jadeja wins a match for India

Monday, December 21, 2009 ajantha mendis, cricket, dilshan, harbhajan singh, india, ravindra jadeja, rishabh bablani, tharanga 1 Comment

Yeah, he did. His first ever match-winning contribution for India, at least one that people can remember.

And what a time to bowl his best stuff, after the Lankans had been rollicking at 165/1, largely thanks to Tillekeratne 'Dilscooper' Dilshan, Upul 'No-real-nickname' Tharanga, and Sanga (because it rhymes).

Harbhajan decided to bowl well on a turning track and Jadeja pulled out a can of whoop-ass.

My image of him has changed. A bit.

I always thought of him as a limited-over specialist spinner, the Johan Botha type who fires it in around off stump, and who can slam the ball a bit.

Now he's a pretty decent all-rounder.

A few months ago we all hated his guts for his really slow innings in a T20. We all wanted him to be dropped.

Now he's a decent all-rounder who deserves his place instead of Yusuf Pathan.

I'm an Indian cricket fan, though. My opinion could only be as constant as the next match.

Mendis got served today, by the way. Remember my post?

Mendis falls off the Mystery Machine

Friday, November 27, 2009 ajantha mendis, cricket, india, rishabh bablani, sri lanka, stats No Comments

I'm not one to gloat, but India won today. Their 100th Test win. And not just won, won convincingly - against a contender for the number one spot. India's got themselves to a position from which a win in their next test match will propel them to the top of the rankings. Definitely gloatworthy!

But there's another picture... Sri Lanka picked three spinners for this match - Muralitharan, Herath, and Mendis - three spinners of the calibre that England, Australia, South Africa and the West Indies yearn to possess today. India handled them with such ease that they looked like club cricketers who'd struggle to outdo my legspin. Ajantha Mendis, in particular, was given no respect. He was relentlessly attacked by Sehwag and Gambhir - quite enough to demoralize any bowler, even one who had the same team on the mat in his debut series.

So has his magic faded? His mystery been solved? His mojo been stolen by a Fat Scotsman?

Here are the stats (using Cricinfo's Statsguru) of Ajantha Mendis' bowling career:

In his first three matches (all against India), he took 26 wickets at 18.38, and at an economy of 2.92, with a best of 6/117.

In his next three matches, the corresponding stats are 8 wickets, avg 38.25, econ 2.78, best 4-71.

The next three matches, he took 8 wickets again, but at an average of 44, an economy of 2.93 and a best of 3-20.

Then comes the Kanpur test. 2 wickets for 162, average 81, economy of 4.26.

It seems like the teams have figured him out - but keep in mind that he is still only 10 tests old, and has only played India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand. He may still do well, if given a chance, against the (other) bigwigs, Australia and South Africa, and definitely against West Indies. With Herath breathing down his neck though (figuratively, I've no idea what goes on in the Lankan camp), Mendis may have limited opportunities. He is certain to be dropped for the third test at Mumbai, since Herath was better at Kanpur and had a mystery ball of his own. He's probably hoping Mumbai will be a dustbowl, which is a possibility if the curator is an ass.

Unless Mendis steps up his game and invents a ball that swings away, breaks in and keeps swirling until it avoids the bat, he'll probably remain on the sidelines. But I'm not complaining - anyone who plays for KKR is subject to some suffering.

Mendis' latest ploy - learning telekinesis