WACA Test - A preview

Indian cricket team is going into the WACA test once again conceding a 2-0 lead to the Australians, just like 4 years ago. The Indian batting line which looks very impressive on papers have once again proved to be disappointing and inconsistent, with the likes of Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag having some serious problems facing the Australian pace attack. The bowling has put the team back in the game couple times at MCG and SCG, but still were not able to capitalize and exploit the situation. On the other hand, Australians are not as strong as they were 4 years back. Now, their top order looks fragile and were not able to put up a good show at the MCG and the SCG. The middle order which was prone to a lot of criticism before the start of the series has come up good, with Ponting, Hussey and Clarke making impressive scores and helped Australia take a convincing 2-0 lead.

Indian celebrating the wicket of R Ponting, after being dismissed by Ishant Sharma at the WACA in 2008

If Indians intend to stay alive in the series, it is very important for their batsmen to show a lot of temperament and change in technique to approach the Australian pacers on a "green top" at WACA. It will be interesting to see the team that Dhoni picks for this test. If Dhoni decides to go with an all pace attack, he is left with very little options having to select from A Mithum or Vinay Kumar. Both being inexperienced campaigners, it will be a tough call for Dhoni to go with one of them. It would not be a bad idea to go with Ashwin, as the WACA pitch will offer him good bounce of the pitch and if Ashwin is brave enough to toss and flight the ball in the air, he could provide a lot of variety to the bowling line and be impressive. Though Zaheer Khan has toured twice to Australia before this series, this would be his first test at Perth. He might not be clocking 150 mark on the speed guns, but his consistent line and length should provide him a lot of success at the WACA. Ishant Sharma looked very impressive at Perth the last time, picking up Ponting on both innings and Clarke in the first innings. Not just that, all the right handed batmen were having a tough time facing him. Ishant has been quite impressive in this tour as well than what his figures might show. He should be fulled geared up and raring to go for the third test.

The WACA, Perth

It will not be a surprise, if Australians go with an all pace attack in the third test. After all, Nathan Lyon has done very little to prove a point and stay in the playing XI. So, I reckon Australia will play Mitchell Starc ahead of Lyon at WACA. With Pattinson out of the test with injury, the consistent Ryan Harris will also play for the first time in this series. S Marsh has to prove that, he has something to offer in this series, after being dismissed in the first ball for two times in the series so far. It was tough for him to make a come back after being out of action for a while due to the injuries he incurred at South Africa, earlier in 2011.

The key for Indian batsmen is to stay at the crease and get their eye in before going for their shots. It is very important for them to leave the good deliveries and play on the back foot in these bouncy conditions. Gambhir and Sehwag have a key role to play. If they can play without losing a wicket for the first hour of play, India can try to build the inning and put up a competitive score for the Australians. The middle order has to come good and put a fighting show to make India stay alive in the series.

It will be an all important toss at WACA. Any side which wins the toss would no doubt elect to bowl first and restrict the opposition to as small as a target possible.

Key players:
India - S Tendulkar, R Dravid, VVS Laxman, Z Khan
Australia - M Clarke, M Hussey, R Ponting, R Harris

Players to watch:
India - I Sharma, V Sehwag
Australia - B Hilfenhaus, E Cowan

Pradeep K Chandra

100th test at Sydney

SCG has become the 3rd test venue to host 100 test matches only after Lords and MCG. Bright sunny day at the SCG, perfect conditions to start the 2nd test of the India-Australia test series 2011/12. Wasim (Akram) at the pitch report said it was perfect batting conditions if the batsmen can see through the first couple hours or so. Dhoni surprisingly won the toss and elected to bat first.

Gambhir is having a really tough time facing the new ball from the Australian pacers. He is not adjusting his technique to the bouncing Australian wickets. It is very important to leave the good balls early in your innings and Gambhir has failed to do that at MCG and is continuing that at SCG as well. He has to be playing a lot straighter rather than trying to work the ball on the on-side, or through the point region. There is no point in having an opener who exposes the likes of Dravid within the first few overs of the morning. It can happen once or twice, but the problem with Gambhir is he does not seem to learn from his mistakes.

Dravid has been solid throughout 2011. He was a lone battler in the test series at England in 2011 where he scored 3 centuries (everything in vain though). He had problems with the uneven bounce at the MCG pitch, but here at the SCG he was solid in defense, watching the ball till the last minute before he nipped one to the forward short leg fielder.

Laxman and Sehwag have been in international cricket for a long time without impressive feet movement. When you are driving, it is important to get to the pitch of the ball, which Laxman has not been doing in Australia. Sachin has been the only Indian batsman who looked like scoring each time he comes out to bat. Dhoni looked better at SCG as obviously the ball was old when he came out to bat and was coming on to the bat nicely. Once again after a sorry show by the Indian batsmen, they put up a miniscule 191 in their first inning and were bowled out within the first day.


It is a tough ask from the bowlers to defend a score of 191 on a track which has looked very good for batting. Zaheer bowled impressively picking up 3 early wickets on the first day and that was it. (Ricky)Ponting and Michael(Clark) batted wonderfully in the 2nd day each scoring centuries and Clark going on to make a double ton. As quoted in cricinfo "The best thing India have done is bowl their overs on time". Crowd clapped for each of the Indian bowlers when they gave away 100 runs. This is of-course not a good sign for the bowlers. At the end of day two at SCG, Aussies lead by 291 runs with 6 wickets in hand and seem to increase the lead more than 350. If India had to save this test match, they will have to bat more than 2 days which looks a mammoth task with the form in which the batsmen are in.

Trivia:
Michael Clark scored his first double ton in test cricket

Pradeep K Chandra

Boxing day test

It was, what can be called as an awful start to the test series for India. The batsmen have again failed to be impressive on a bouncing overseas wicket. The bowler did an impressive job I should say. There was lot of aggression from Ishant (Sharma), (Umesh) Yadav and Zaheer (Khan) on day one of the match. But again, there were lot of easy runs given to the tail-enders on day two. Of-late India has struggled to pick the wickets of tail-enders which we have seen against the W Indies at home and against England. What could have easily been a total of under-300, Australia managed a smart 333 in their first innings.

Sachin bowled by Siddle in the final over of day 2 at MCG

India was sitting comfortably at 167/2 at drinks in the 3rd session of the 2nd day but lost Tendulkar in the last over of the day. However, India were still strong with 214/3 at stumps on day 2. But, it all started again where the middle order did nothing much to capitalize on the start that the top order had given and India were bowled out for 282 with a first innings deficit of 52 runs.

Indian bowlers tried to put India back in the game by picking 4 wickets for just 27 runs. But Ponting and Hussey worked hard to put on an impressive 115 runs partnership for the 5th wicket. With help from the tail-enders, Aussies imposed a target of 292 for India to win. Indian batsmen were no close to the target, and were bowled out for 169 in less than 3 sessions losing the match by an enormous 122 runs margin. After a ridiculous batting display from the Indians at the MCG, they are expected to fight back and give an impressive reply to Aussies at the SCG next week if the series has to stay alive. SCG has been the hunting grounds for Sachin (Tendulkar), averaging 221 in 5 matches and VVS Laxman, averaging 97 from 3 matches.

Trivia:
India lost by 122 runs, the total runs scored by (Ricky) Ponting in the match.
Ishant (Sharma) clocked 152 kmph in one of his impressive spells.

Pradeep K Chandra

India tour of Australia - First look

India tour of Australia is undoubtedly the most expected series in the cricketing world. This is an extremely important series for both Aussies, who are trying to prove that they are still a dominating side and India who have had a dreadful England series soon after being at No 1 spot in test cricket.

Looking at the stats, Indian performance down under has not been very impressive except the 2007/08 test series which they loss the series in spite of a memorable win at the intimidating Waca pitch. The 2007/08 series was notorious for all bad reasons including awful umpiring decisions, off field aggression and ugly racism comments. But, India and Australia have been in good terms after that, thanks to IPL.

In this series India will try to continue that good performance from 2007/08 and probably better that by winning the series. This might be the last Australian tour for the Indian batting giants S Tendulkar, R Dravid, VVS Laxman. They have shown the world what they are capable of and what Indian cricket is capable of. Tendulkar after being part of the historic ODI world cup victory earlier this year would be looking to add another important feather to his cap by winning the test series at Australia. He would continue his search for his 100th ton and there can be no better situation getting to that landmark.

The Australian batting lineup has been very vulnerable in the recent past with a humiliating defeat against the Kiwis at Hobart and ridiculous performance against the South Africans being bowled out for a meager 47. With enormous pressure on the former Australian captain (Ricky) Ponting and (Michael) Hussey, and the inexperienced pace attack, the Aussies would be defense in the Boxing day test match. It is pretty important for the Indians to exploit that defensive strategy and build on the existing pressure on the Aussies.

Players to look for in this series:
S. Tendulkar: Searching for his most awaited 100th ton in international cricket
V.Kohli and R.Sharma: Only one might play. But both look very positive and promising
J.Pattinson: With a very impressive start to his international career, Pattinson will be aiming to continue his good form
R.Ponting: He might not be in best of forms, but players of his class need just one game to get their eye in.

In all, it will be a cracker of a test series.


Pradeep K Chandra

The Ashes

"Australia VS England" in Ashes would have been an undetermined cricketing tournament may be during the early period of Ashes but not now. When Ashes was started in the 1882, the only prominent cricketing nations took part nd it has managed to continue its reputation even during dis era. It is supposed to be a very honorable tournament right from the inaugural series. Though Australia has been the irrefutable Ashes champions for a very long time now.

Surprisingly speaking, a cricketing tournament has a history to talk about. The birth of Ashes is one of the most interesting or rather a fascinating piece of info to share. And here it is, In the 1882 test played between Australia and England at Oval, Australia won it comprehensively and the England cricket was considered to be dead. England cricket team was given the "RIP" certificate by the then Sporting Times magazine nd the ashes of the dead English cricket was taken to Australia.
Later in the same yr, England began its popular cricket tournament against Australia which was regarded as the "Quest for the Ashes" and eventually England won it. The England cricket team was awarded an urn (by few English female officials) which contained the ashes of the pair of bails used in the test match dat england lost earlier dat yr. The aftermath of dat tournament resulted in the two teams meeting often to fight for the Ashes. However, Ashes is currently being played biannually, alternatively in England nd Australia.


England however dominated the Ashes in the earlier stage by losing just 4 matches of 23, however its been the Aussies who have dominated the Ashes under various captains. The 2005 Ashes was considered the most memorable series for the England in the recent times, which the English won 2-1 under the captaincy of Michal Vaughan. But in the 2007 series, the Aussies made a magnum revenge by clinching the Ashes 5-0. It was after dis memorable Ashes dat the likes of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn retired from all forms of the game. Considering this fact too seriously its high time England try to steal the Ashes from the Aussies once again in 2009.


England have done an extraordinarily good job to draw the first Ashes test dis season. Ponting shuld have very badly missed Glenn Mc Grath or Shane Warne after having failed to grab the 10th English wicket in de second inning to win the first test. With the ineffective and tyro Australian pace attack, it wouldn't be a totally surprise package to the cricketing world if England tend to win the Ashes '09. This would be de elongated downfall of the Australian cricket. Lets hope for a very interesting Ashes '09


Pradeep KC

The most hyperbolized Cricketers

There have been lots of player who have always kept their expectation-meter very high wen big matches come up. Rather not all hav performed as anticipated. This excerpt in the blog would reveal the most over-estimated cricketers but have actually led down their team miserably on important occasions.

1. The first on the list wuld be the hunk Kevin Pieterson alias or abbreviated KP, who has always been high on the expectation-meter right from the start of his career. KP who bagged an ooping $1.5 million for his ILP champign seldom performed for his team.The $1.5 million for KP in de ILP auction just showed how much does Mr. Vijay Mallaiya has to be thriftless. This has not been the first time dis big man has let his team down. He has time and again succumbed despair when his England team has most wanted him to perform.


2. The next on cards is KP's teammate Andrew Flintoff, who also bagged the $1.5 million tag to represent the Chennai Super Kings nd led them down as far as possible. One has to believe dat he has missed more matches than he had managed to play in his career, may be due to his ghastly fitness or ban due to indiscipline acts off the field. Flintoff''s retirement from de test arena yields England in finding a far better player. Teammate Paul Collingwood, who is not too much in de limelight is sure a far better player than de formers.


3. Shahid Afridi comes next on the list. Nevertheless, a frightening batsman of one time nd still manages to be de nightmare of world's worst bowlers. But all this doesnt gainsay a place for him in this list of most over-estimated players of the world.Anyway, after nearly 3-4 yrs of miserable form he was able to grab both de semi-finals nd finals for pakistan in T20 world cup.
Pradeep KC