Aussie wins and Aussie whines….

India bowled well again, but Aussies bowled better, and Indian batsmen – inspite of the abscence of their tormentor Brett Lee – entered a competition for the best ‘deer caught in headlights’ routine. Quite fittingly, Australia won, even bagging the second bonus point in a row. Well played India, but congrats to the Aussies.

But it is amazing to observe the whining mode in the Australian media.

Here is the screen capture from today’s Sydney Morning Herald cricket page:

“There were further signs that a summer of distraction was taking a toll on Aussie batsmen “

“RICKY PONTING has been worn down by the many controversies of this summer and it is taking a toll on his on-field performance”

All of which begs the questions: why aren’t the Australian bowlers – who IMHO have been brilliant – ‘distracted’ ? Or, why hasn’t Gilchrist or Clarke been affected ? Or, even Brad Hogg ? Doesn’t explain how Indian managed to win at Perth after all the distractions of Sydney.

I guess its tough to admit that your batting line-up sucked on the particular day on a bouncy pitch or that the young Indian bowlers had the numbers on the Australian batsmen. But why bother when you can conveniently lay the blame on monkey-gate, IPL, Pakistan tour etc.

PS – did I mention the Indian batting sucks ? Its all well and good to save runs on the fields (Indian ground fielding has improved drastically), but to what use if you can’t knock it off ?

Brief thoughts on MCG win

Kudos to the Indian team – especially the young bowlers for pulling off a win yesterday over Australia, espcially for bowling them out for 159. The pitch was helpful to the bowlers, but far from a minefield and to dismiss the strong Aussies line-up cheaply requires special effort (more on the bowlers briefly).

There was a bit of help from umpire Koertzen, who twice failed to spot edges: Gilchrist’s inside edge in the Aus innings and Sachin’s slight outside edge. Although a single ODI victory will never compensate for a possible series tie or victory in Tests, there is somehow a divine retribution in these decisions that went against Australia. However, I have to say that while Gilly’s inside edge was plainfully obvious, Sachin’s was not, no matter what the AGP or the Channel 9 commentary team keeps saying. Firstly, in the super slo-mo replay, there was no apparent change in the revolutions of the ball that should occur after it hits the bat. Secondly, the snicko showed a blip, but only after the ball had passed the bat ! This is not to say that there was no nick, but that there was enough doubt for the decision to go in Sachin’s favor.

Of course, that did not keep the Channel 9 team, especially Ian Healy from spewing nonsense. He kept droning on about the decision, and went as far as to suggest – quite ridculously – that when umpires cannot hear nicks due to stadium noise, they should employ ‘psycology’ to make decisions ie go by the how genunine the fielding team’s appeal is !!! The cheekiness of this suggestion boggles the mind especially considering how Shane Warne has so much as admitted that Australian fielders actually ‘work’ on the umpires for close decisions.

A word about Dhoni’s leading of the team. In recent history of Indian cricket, this ODI possibly winessed one of the most agressive captaincies. Dhoni kept up the attack on the Aussie batting, realising that wickets were the key to choke runs from arguably the best and deepest batting order in the world. He has mentioned that he relies on instincts – but how good did the sixth sense serve him yesterday? He kept Sharma on even after the 19-year old was belted for 18 runs by Hayden, and the youngster repaid the faith by taking out his tormentor. Dhoni perhaps made a couple of errors, but on the whole I like his instinctive stuff.

Finally, an extra round of applause to the Indian pace trio of Sharma-Sreesanth-Pathan. Ishant Sharma has been the big revelation on the tour and I mentioned how he came back from a thrashing to take Hayden’s wicket. He has made a bunny of the world’s best batsman (taking the mantle from Harbhajan). Yesterday , he even kept bowling at 145-150kmph range. A future star for sure.  Sreesanth seems to have cooled down a bit: not even bothering to celebrate as he took the wickets of Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Bracken. Pathan was his usual cool self, and gave very little width to the batsman.

Hopefully, cricket authorities in India will treat these young fast bowlers properly and not risk burning them. I especially hope they do not go the Ashish Nehra and Balaji fade-out way. The least the Indian board can do is give these guys some sporting pitches to play on in India.

Super Bowl: a late post

A Super Bowl party just isn’t the same with croissants and coffee. But that is what you get with a local kick-off time of 9am! That and an awful presentation by the local SBS channel with a clueless host and two random Aussies who held bit parts (punters) for brief periods in NFL teams (Aussie rule players often manage to find jobs as kickers and punters in American football). These guys – and inane questions like ‘how matey do you get with the quarterback outside the locker-room’ – had to be endured at every game break.

This also meant that I had to catch all the Super Bowl commercials later on the internet. The ads (they can all be seen here) have been going from bad to worse and this year they have seriously jumped the shark. The T-mobile, Coca-cola Thanksgiving Parade and perhaps the Victoria’s Secret ones barely make the grade. Rest sucked. Even most of the Budweiser ones.

As expected, the two salesgenie.com ads and one Budweiser ad has upset the usual suspects. IMHO, the unfunny Indian accents were more irritating than offensive (and the geeky desi guy improbably gets a girl in the end). Meanwhile, I am still waiting for the following groups to express their outrage: ugly women, wine and cheese loving men, fat car-mechanics, cavemen, witch-doctors and fire-breathing dragons !!

The game itself was actually exciting for a change, and the result could have gone either way till the last minute. However, I can’t agree with the pundits who keep repeating the ‘biggest upset ever’ line. Yes the Patriots did have a perfect season till the end, but anyone who had watched the play-offs would realize that they struggled even at home, especially against a depleted Chargers in the AFL championship game. The Giants on the other hand were on a roll, winning on the road in really tough situations. I would have still expected a Patriots win but not by the 12-point spread that was predicted. Whoever came up with that spread was seriously smoking something. Congrats to the Giants anyway. It is a team I don’t really care for much. But they beat the Patriots – who I cannot support in clear conscience being a Bufallo Bills fan – so it is all good.

Hmm………

Cricket fans are planning to protest against the Indian side in tomorrow’s Twenty20 match against India in Melbourne.It’s believed text messages are circulating, urging supporters to verbally attack the tourists and their fans in the wake of the Harbhajan Singh race row. (link)

Should make it interesting if any ‘incident’ happens.

MEanwhile, the Australians are probably finally taking this form of the game a bit seriously. In their last match against New Zealand, they rested players, including Ponting. For this game, Ponting seems to be in a hurry to get fit. OTOH, India are treating this as a practice game.

By the by, the 20/20 will be telecast on HD – apparently the first time for cricket in Australia. Should be fun. I actually happen to like 20/20 better than ODIs (Test cricket trumps both).

If you are in Syndey….

……Bavarian beers on tap are not to be missed at the Löwenbräu Keller. The crispy and aromatic Löwenbräu Original lager is great for the middle of a hot day. In the evening, the dark, somewhat smoky, mocha-flavored wheat-beer, (Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier) is to be savored, especially satisfaying along with a shot of sour-apple schnapps.

They also have an excellent (if slightly expensive) menu consisting of hearty German delicacies meals and a live Oom-Pah band to keep you entertained.

Oh – did I mention the gorgeous ladies dressed in traditional Bavarian garb (including bustiers) 🙂 ?

(image)

Justice? …….Perhaps, and at what cost…..

Harbhajan’s original sentence handed out in a purely uneven-handed manner by Mike Procter, has been reduced. Apparently, Harbhajan did abuse Symonds, but not racially.
As I had mentioned before, the original conclusion reached by Procter seemed hardly justified. This was further confirmed by the actual text of the rulings which is full of contradictions. However, the manner in which the BCCI has acted while the appeal was being heard, reiterating their pull-out threat, and even chartering a plane to bring the players back if the judgment was not to their liking, leaves a bad taste. As Peter Roebuck says:

India is not some tinpot dictatorship but an international powerhouse, and ought to think and act accordingly. Brinkmanship or not, threatening to take their bat and ball home in the event of a resented verdict being allowed to stand was an abomination. It sets a dreadful precedent. What price justice now?

Other questions remain unanswered. What did Symonds say to Harbhajan to provoke the latter (there have been rumors that it was a homophobic statement, which should not be treated with any less importance than a racial slur) ? How is it that Michael Clarke, who by all video evidences was too far away removed from the action to have heard anything provide testimony saying he did hear the word being used ? Isn’t that perjury ?

A win and a drop ….some comments.

I was going to write an extended post with a blow-by-blow account of how I savored India’s incredible win (as mentioned previously, it involved Belgian beer, chased by single malt, not always the best of combinations, but who cares when you are naturally high) last Saturday and how we basked in the warm glow of redemptive feeling the day after. Unfortunately, that moment has passed.

Mind you, it is still a great feeling that we won, notwithstanding the small matter of winning again in Adelaide to level the series and the sobering realization that I don’t recollect a time when India won two on trot on foreign soil (excluding Bangladesh).

But the worst bit of distraction to the feel-good atmosphere has been provided by our wise men of BCCI, who in their infinite wisdom, decided to bring the ebullient Indian team back to ground by announcing the composition of the ODI team, just a day after the victory . A team that apparently would not consist of Sourav Ganguly or Rahul Dravid.

As one of the BoBs [1], I have been asked to comment on Ganguly’s exclusion – no doubt for the perverse pleasure of certain bloggers expecting an apoplectic response. Unfortunately, we have to disappoint, because my initial reaction was that Sourav’s non-inclusion is not such a bad thing [2]. Not because I believe Sourav doesn’t fit into the ODI team, but mainly because Sourav, Dravid and Laxman are still the critical core of our Test team. Given India’s unsurprisingly hectic schedule in the coming year, I would prefer if these three (and Sachin as well) are reserved for Test matches, which to me are way more important than the thousand ODIs that take place. Additionally, it is not a bad idea to blood a younger team.

On reflection, however, I have changed my mind. For a tough ODI contest against the world champion team in their own backyard, does it really make much sense to have Sachin (and arguably Sehwag) as the only senior players ? The most common reasons for Sourav’s exclusion seems to be his poor running, fielding and a bad record against Australia in Australia. Athleticism is certainly a worry, but I am not sure that experience does not carry any weight, especially for the 50-overs match. As for prior record, a bit of digging in Statsguru reveals that Ganguly and Sachin’s respective averages in Australia are 24 and 28 – not that much different, and Ganguly even has a century while Sachin’s highest was 82!

Apart from such purely cricketing reasons, the timing and the manner in which the decision seems to have been arrived are rather unfortunate. Sadly, much of the attention has been deflected from the euphoria of the win (I am sure the Aussies are taking note and preparing some choice sledges as we speak) to the over-the-top reactions [3]. This team had together as a unit, showing great spirit in the face of all the post-Sydney hoopla, but whispers suggesting that Dhoni may have wanted Sourav to be excluded does nothing to help the spirit ahead of an important game. Further, this report suggests that the decision was made in consultation with Yuvraj Singh as the Perth test was in progress ! The same Yuvraj Singh, who was cooling his heels in the dressing room on the back of two entirely forgettable outings in Australia!

Also read the Lord’s comment on the droppings, as he argues correctly that a younger team should have ideally fielded for the Pakistan ODI series last year.

Overall, what I would have liked to see, was some kind of a rotation policy for ODIs with a judicious mix of the knowledge of the experienced and the exuberance of the youngsters. Of course, anything bordering on a sensible decision from the BCCI is just too much to expect.

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[1] Bongs of the Blogosphere. Although some people doubt that given the fact I can sleep soundly at night without the mandatory twice daily servings of fish.

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[2] Admittedly, it was a personal disappointment for a different reason. I have been a huge fan of Dada and was looking forward to seeing him in action live for the first time at the GABBA, perhaps even try to hunt down an autograph at his Brisbane hotel. Sadly that will not be.

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[3] I do not expect anything more than marginal tabloidism from The Australian, but this is a bit much.

Just two days after India posted one of their greatest Test wins, in Perth, effigies were being burned across the subcontinent over the axing of veteran batsman Sourav Ganguly from the one-day squad.

I have to sadly admit that the city I still call home is shared by a bunch of assorted, obviously unemployed morons. But does that give Fox Sports the license to extend it to the entire subcontinent ? Next time there is a riot in an isolated Sydney suburb, we should say that entire Australia is being overrun by bigoted racists.

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Yabba dabba doo……

Yipee-kay-kay and as such………Perth of all places – who would have thunk ?!!!!  We are happy – especially after few rounds of Belgian beer and a double shot of Oban. Yay !!!

Cheers.

Recurring theme and a milestone

The recurring theme for the first two days of the test match has been India on the verge of putting Australia away for good, but a combination of luck and Aussie resourcefulness sees the game back on even keel. Most commentators are saying that India are on top, but I still think it is anybody’s game, especially with three days left and the wicket still playing true.

After a disappointing morning with the bat, we had the Aussies reeling at 61/5 and hopes were up for a 100-odd runs rout. But then Gilly and Symonds managed to get into the usual rescue act, and what a partnership they produced! Would have loved to be a non-partisan viewer during that period of the game, but sadly their swishing and slaying held little joy. Of course, they were helped to some extent by poor fielding – couple of really sloppy moves by Ishant in the deep let off Gilchrist twice – and importantly, few slices of luck. Symonds is certainly having a charmed series. He was dropped at 3 by Tendulkar, then got a lucky reprieve when a RP Singh yorker squeezed through his defense and yet spun away to miss the stumps. Hopefully his luck will run out at a crucial time during the Australian second innings. 🙂

But overall, no one could have imagined this situation three days ago. Actually, it was predicted that a pace attack would rip through the opposition batting – only it turned out to be Indian medium-pacers, with their wily swing that coaxed out the vaunted Australian batting. The Indian bowling is arguably a second string line-up, given the absence of Zaheer, Munaf and Sreesanth, yet in the scorching heat of Perth, they have bowled with heart. Kudos to RP Singh, Pathan and Sharma. Keep it up fellows – we need it once more this test.

Speaking of Indian bowling, the main news of the day: Anil Kumble reaching a great milestone: 600 Test wickets ! (and what a wicket it was – breaking up the Symonds-Gilchrist partnership).

I will admit there were times when I was exasperated by his bowling, especially ODIs, and believed he was past it. But I am really happy that Kumble proved us skeptics wrong.

Cricinfo has a wonderful timeline of his career.

Make no mistakes, the guy’s a fighter at heart – perhaps not the in your face street-fighter like Ganguly – but all the same, an indominable warrior (and he manages to hide it well behind the modest smile and unfailing gentlemanly conduct). No other moment captures his resilience and grit better than this picture:

The Cricinfo report of the Test match at Antigua says it all:

Not much later, just after news came in that Kumble was flying back to India the next day for surgery, out walked the man himself. Heavily strapped up, with bands going around his jaw, over his head and across the back of it, a semi-mummified Kumble walked out to the middle.

The ball was tossed to Kumble and a slider slipped past Lara’s outside edge off the very first ball. There was much speculation about the wisdom of such a move. Perhaps it was foolhardy to ask a man with a fractured jaw to bowl?

All talk was put to an end, as is so often the case with Kumble, by one delivery. Tossed up, fizzing through, pitching on off and spinning in just a touch, Lara’s across the line swat was not good enough. The pad was struck, Kumble appealed as well as his plaster would allow and umpire David Shepherd confirmed that Lara (4) was plumb lbw.

Congrats Jumbo. Now onto 700 !

Not too bad, but…..

Considering the pre-match hype about the Perth pitch and the ravings about how the four-pronged Australian pace attack was going to rip through the Indian batting line-up, carrying a few body-parts in its wake, you would have to be satisfied about a score of 297/6 at the end of Day1. The clouds in the silver lining though is the manners in which Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman got out. Ganguly seemed overeager to step on the accelerator (although the catch was brilliant as well – with some other team it would have been a boundary), but Dravid and Laxman both had late day brain-freezes. I would have been a bit more confident with this score with a stronger bowling line-up. But shorn of Zaheer ans Sreesanth, I am not sure if RP Singh, Sharma and Pathan can make use of the bounce. The hope is that when Australia bat tomorrow afternoon, the Freo Doctor does its tricks, and Indian bowlers can make use of the swing.

Crying wolf

Going through several MSM articles, blog-posts, newsgroup rants etc over the recent cricket-related brouhaha, one underlying theme emerged: most people in the ‘western countries’ like England or Australia view Indians as constant whiners. They also think Indian are hypocrites because we are always complaining about racism against us, while trying to champion Harbhajan against a racist accusation.

Of course with all the rhetoric going around, it is tough to get in the word edgewise that most Indians are not trying to defend Harbhajan’s action per se, but defending his right to a proper and fair trial. Also, we can argue all night about the western hypocrisy and about how they are unable to reconcile with a changing world and an emerging, self-confident India.

But eventually there is some truth to the suggestion of whining Indians. Indians have a penchant of shouting racism, colonialism etc. and complain about our National Pride being hurt and insulted at the mere drop of a hat. Unfortunately, while the Indian media has found that whipping up hysterical nationalism in this manner sells well, quite a few personal and group bloggers – not naming names – also carry this out to the extreme.  As has been more eloquently argued before (or briefly ranted about here), this cry-wolf syndrome hurts us in the long term. The old saying of ‘pick battles small enough to win, but big enough to matter’ may sound corny, but is absolutely true.

In other good news, finally some cricket is being played.

India suspends tour….

….till the decision is taken on Harbhajan’s appeal.

……BCCI said the tour would be suspended until his appeal had been heard.”The Board will appeal to the International Cricket Council to review the decision of the Match Referee and suspend its operation till the appeal is disposed of,” the BCCI said in a statement released today.

“The Indian Board realises the game of cricket is paramount but so too is the honour of the Indian team and for that matter every Indian.

“To vindicate its position, the Board will fight the blatantly false and unfair slur on an Indian player.”

I sympathize with the last sentiment. A charge of racism is a strong one and as I mentioned before, it doesn’t make any sense how the hearing was conducted. However, I am not sure I agree with the decision to ‘suspend’ the series. Either BCCI should have protested right away or accepted the decision and protested in some other manner. Right now it sounds like whining and holding ICC and CA to ransom. What happens if in the appeal is turned down. Do we come back ?