cry my beloved city

DLF CUP Match No. 7 AUS vs WI THE FINAL

patan — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 01:16:44 +0000

Now we know why AUS is world champion team in cricket. Their professional approach to the game was evident throughout the game. Obviously their fire power was too much for the WI.

The tournament itself threw up a lot of suprises. Whereas the WI literally walked into the final. The Indian and Australian sides had to really slug it out to reach the final. The uncertain weather in initial stages created problems particularily for India. One wonders how India would have fared if their first two matches had been played upto to the normal 5o overs a side. Any way there is no point in pondering over the glorious uncertainties of cricket.

This tounament was a good curtain raiser for the ICC Champions Trophy scheduled to be played in India from 7th of October 2006. AUS start as strong favourites and every team will get a chance to do in depth SWOT analysis of all the teams participating in the WORLD CUP in West Indies in another five months.

MAY THE BEST SIDE WIN.

DLF CUP Match no. 6 IND vs AUS

patan — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 17:11:38 +0000

There we go again. So near and yet so far. The wonderful knack of pulling off a defeat from the jaws of victory has not deserted us. After a scintilating performance with the ball our batsmen failed to deliver the goods. The main culprits for todays defeat were Dhoni and Agarkar. They should have taken a leaf out of Mongia’s batting at the other end. How much English county cricket helps in inculcating the right attitude approach was there to be seen by one and all.

Umpiring in this game was one of the worst in living memory. The Haddin runout, Sachin’s first dismissal, Dhoni dismissal of a noball and finally Harbachan’s caught behind were crucial in influenceing the final result. When technology is available why not use it. Just as the third umpire intervenes in giving a decision, he should equally be empowered to negate the decision of the onfield umpires. Today between the three or four umpires they broke a billion hearts.

Brett Lee has a track record of getting wickets of noballs. Keeping this in mind the umpires should uphold appeals from him only after clearance from the third umpire. In fact they could standardise this for all wickets.

All this may sound as though we are belly aching. This is not the case. We had no business to lose this one. We should have won not beacause of the umpiring but inspite of the umpiring.

If Tony Greg is to believed the Indian cricket saved the BCCI a million dollars. He had indicated that should India come to the final the opposite side be it AUS or WI would have been paid a million dollars as appearance money.

If true the BCCI has to say a big thank you to Rahul Dravid and Co.

DLF Cup Match No. 5 IND vs WI

patan — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:30:51 +0000

Phew! What a match it was.The Indians continued from where they had left off against Australia. They seemed to be hell bent on proving Brian Lara correct when he had said that he could beat this Indian side with second string of bowlers. What amazes me of this Indian side is their inability to regroup quickly from a bad patch in their cricketing phases.Why can’t they learn from Sachin Tendulkar how to work your way back to form? After all except for Collymore and Smith they had no front line bowlers and it was only a question of playing a waiting game for 20 overs and after that it could have been free for all.

One may be wondering why the team is being hauled over the coals inspite of winning a match.We are fortunate that our bowlers delivered other wise we would have been packing our bags for the journey home. Luckily for us Brian Lara decided to bat down the order.

We fought well and came back from the dead. All credit to the bowlers.

LAGE RAHO AUR JEETHAY RAHO.

DLF Cup Match No. 4 AUS vs WI

patan — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 01:40:34 +0000

Phew!What a match. WI had AUS reeling at 104 for 5 and than a classic innings by Hussey and Haddin brought AUS back into the match. It clearly exposed the limited resources available to Lara once he through with Bradshaw. Allcredit to the Aussies for pulling back from the brink. Katich should be careful, his runout percentage is now at 20.

I think AUS is paying very heavily for it’s experiments with cricket’s basics.Is Greg Chappell listening? India is only about 15 matches from the World Cup and we do not know the fates of Kumble, VVS Laxman, Sreesanth, Zaheer etc.I hope at least the players know.

The reply by the WI was excellent. Early departure of Chanderpaul and Sarwan raised hopes but the blitzkrieg unleashed Gayle and Lara swept aside any chance they might have had. Anyway the hard reality is if Lara gets going the opposition can start packing their bags. What a contrast to our own own hero—TENDULKAR.

So that leaves India with little choice—- win the remaining matches–having done that—play WI in the final and give the cup to them on the platter.

DLF Cup: Match No.3 IND vs AUS

patan — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 00:55:37 +0000

I always wonder why ICC permits scheduling of tournaments during monsoon season. This was the story of the ICC Champions Tournament at Sri Lanka and now the DLF Cup at Kuala Lumpur. The same happened in Sri Lanka the other day for the Triseries. This is a complete fraud on the players,the spectators, the media and the sponsors.Coming to the match itself the first half was very entertaining with hunter being hunted down from the 21st. over onwards. It was facinating the way India came back through Harbachan and Sehwag.What happened after that is best forgotten and allowed to become part of history.

For any game to be absorbing there should always be level playing fields. It is here that ICC match referees should step in and order a day game or ask all the teams to play either 25 or 30 overs a side matches. One could not care less whether these games are recognised for the records. At least the public is not robbed of it’sentertainment.

DLF Cup: Match No.2 IND vs WI

patan — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 19:49:57 +0000

If only the rain had come earlier. If only Veeru and Dhoni had got stuck in. IF—IF—IF. These are all excuses and excuses are always wishful thinkings. There is only one reason for having lost the match. That was the atrocious bowling of our pace bowlers. If you do not know how to bowl line, length and speed variation you should not be playing at this level. At 309 total the best approach would have been to slow down the game and push the runrate out of WI reach and await Brian Lara to make his usual mistakes. I can only advise on policy but execution is work of Rahul Dravid.

DLF Cup: Match No.1 WI vs AUS

patan — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 18:46:38 +0000

The first match showed the immaturity of the WI spelt with a capital I.This is not suprising as Brian Lara thinks he is an I- Specialist. The game was set up for them and all that they had to do was go about it sensibly and they would have been through. As usual Pointing is a lucky captain.