Showing posts with label gayle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gayle. Show all posts

So much news. This is some of it.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 , , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments

Plenty happening in the cricverse (cerse for short, pronounced the same as curse). Contrary to what some may think, the season has not ended with Chennai being crowned champions of everything.

Time is scant, however. Here's a possibly inaccurate graph to emphasize the scantiness of time relative to the news being coughed up by cricket.


Right. Now here's some of that news, in point-form to make it look more professional, to go with the graph.

  • Chennai Super Kings have won the IPL for the second year in a row. No surprises there. Around a 100% of the people I asked correctly predicted that Ashwin would get Gayle early for a duck.
  • Some changes were made to India's squad for the West Indian tour. With Gambhir and Yuvraj being ruled out and Sachin not playing the Tests, doors have suddenly opened for Abhinav Mukund, Shikhar Dhawan and - the biggest one - Virat Kohli in the Test squad. Raina gets another shot at ODI captaincy, which is unfortunate for Kohli but ultimately fair. Also, Gayle hasn't been picked to play us in the LOI's, which is one less reason to actually watch and one more reason to check the results online afterwards.
  • England surprised themselves, Sri Lanka, and the 4 people who follow cricket in Brazil by winning at Cardiff, with Tremlett and Swann nipping out the Lankans for 82. Prior to the fourth innings, the match had not just been heading for a draw - it had long since reached it, taken a nap and was heading back to the draw. I can only assume that the strong Lankan top order had already switched off in anticipation of having some of their finest island curries for dinner (I don't really know their food).
  • Shahid Afridi has retired, in protest against something the PCB did at some point when he didn't want those things to happen. I've set a timer for 71839 minutes from now for his unretirement - if the event doesn't take place I think something might explode. Seems like a safe bet.
  • Here's a couple of pieces I liked: Aakash Chopra's analysis of Chawla, Mishra and Pirate Sharma (get it?). And Warne has some wise words for us legspinners.
I guess that's it for now. 

WC Preview: India vs West Indies

Friday, March 18, 2011 , , , , , , , , , , No Comments

Finally. The last match of the awesomeness that was Group B.

Drama, injury, close games, tears, backstabbing, wardrobe malfunctions, weave-pulls, wine chucked in faces, and superb dance moves. But enough about England, this is India v West Indies.

The Captains: Sammy and Dhoni

This game will be pretty much a dead rubber if Bangladesh doesn't beat South Africa, because India is already through and it would take a very large defeat for the West Indies' NRR to fall below Bangladesh. So here's hoping the Banglas win, to ensure that the Windies have something riding on that last game. It will also mean that my pre-WC prediction, that the Banglas qualify ahead of the Windies, has come true. That looks as likely as... something highly unlikely.

Expert analysis aside, India hasn't beaten a Test side in the World Cup yet, apart from Bangladesh. This could and should be an easy win - if James Tredwell and Ravi Bopara can choke the Windies, just think of what Harbhajan and Ashwin could do! No seriously, I'm backing Harbhajan in this game to the extent of picking him in my Fantasy team with my one remaining transfer, and I intend to make him the captain too. As far as Ashwin goes, he could be as hittable as Chawla. Everyone wants him to play just because he hasn't played and got thrashed yet, unlike the others. The cloak of mystery is probably why he should play. Proof - Imran Tahir, James Tredwell, Devendra Bishoo, Ajit Agarkar (find the odd one out). He still has to bowl well, though. Crap on a stick won't get you wickets.

The game is being played in Chennai (another sign for Ashwin), a very good place for Sachin and spinners. It is going to be a fresh pitch apparently, so it could be another high-scoring game. It will be anyway if India bats first, but Gayle looked in a particularly rapish mood against England, so expect a close, exciting contest for about 15 overs. Brian Bravo has been underwhelming so far, as has the rest of the order - a good score will depend entirely on Pollard, IPL teammate of Harby and (formerly) Zaheer.

My picks for the game:  Harbhajan, Sachin, Ashwin, Yuvraj, Gayle, Bravo, Benn.

Ideal line-ups:

India: Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni (c)(wk), Harbhajan, Ashwin, Chawla, Zaheer, Nehra.

West Indies: Gayle, Chanderpaul, Bravo, Sarwan, Pollard, Sammy (c), Thomas (wk), Russell, Benn, Bishoo, Roach.

Official-looking prediction: India to win with ease. High-scoring game. There will be 4 celebrities in the crowd.

TV in front of me, which seat should I take?

My Top 10 Test Cricket moments of 2010

Wednesday, December 29, 2010 , , , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments

It’s that time of the year again. By now, you would have been inundated with numerous ‘Top 10s of 2010’, and it would be wrong of me not to add one more to this rabble. Here, I present to you, my top 10 Test cricket moments of the year, in no particular order!

1) Murali reaches 800 wickets: Nobody deserved this milestone more; not even the king of leg spin. In his final test, against the best players of spin, he needed 8 wickets to become the only man in history to get 800 Test scalps. He duly completed the feat; and fittingly, wicket 800 was achieved with the help of a familiar accomplice at slip. As they say, some stories cannot be scripted better.

2) Laxman’s 103* leads India to victory against SL: This was the year of Laxman. It all started with this innings in the final test of the series against Sri Lanka at Colombo. Laxman walked into 62/4, with India still needing 195 runs to win, and draw the series. Against a tricky attack comprising spin and sling, he exhibited a classy innings in a pressure situation and led India to victory. He was just getting started….

Stuff that's happened

Friday, May 07, 2010 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments

The T20 World Cup has gone exactly as expected, no surprises have been sprung. The big 'uns have all progressed to the next round. The minnows showed some fight and, being minnows, were overpowered before bowing out. The Afghans were spirited in the field, and despite their pre-tournament fearlessness at facing Steyn, were butchered by the Saffa pace attack before Graeme allowed them a go at Albie. Also, this would have been the perfect time for Dean Jones to be back in the commentary box, but apparently no one saw the opportunity but me. Why am I not an ICC official?

Suresh Raina and Mahela Jayawardene showed us that the IPL is good for something, as both smashed hundreds for India and Sri Lanka respectively.

Sachin Tendulkar joined twitter, and verified his account by posting some geeky pictures of himself to prove that he's human (he's tricking us, don't believe a word of it!). He also already has more than 178,000 followers, and is literally gaining more than one follower every second. Keep refreshing his twitter page to see for yourself. (I am also on twitter)

India and Australia play today in what has the potential to be the biggest game of the tournament so far, though we will be missing Sreesanth, Hayden and Symonds. Harby alone just isn't enough drama. Hopefully Gambhir's stomach isn't runny anymore, so we don't have to open with Karthik again. Seriously, Rohit Sharma is a better option!

The other match is between Sri Lanka and the Windies. It may or may not be a close match, but it'll definitely be boring if Gayle and Dilshan don't score some runs.

I'm also brainstorming for more usage of Billy. Not much else.