The Cricket Thread

[heavy_foot]

Saw it on the News ..Yuvraj is getting a Porche 911 and it seems he had stated in some old interview that it was he dream car.

[extreme_torque]

$1 Million for beating Australia ..... How absurd can it get?

[diabloo]

Thats the double the prize money of T20 World Cup winner
It pays when you have a rich dad

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

$1 Million for beating Australia ..... How absurd can it get?

[mclaren1885]

Team that might play against the Aussies at Bangalore. I think Bangalore is the 1st ODI right?

1. Sachin.
2. Ganguly.
3. Dravid - home ground.
4. Uthappa - home ground.
5. Yuvraj.
6. Rohit Sharma.
7. Dhoni.
8. Zaheer Khan.
9. RP Singh.
10. Piyush Chawla.
11. Irfan Pathan.

What I would really like to see? Let the captain be Ganguly, ask Dravid to keep wickets. That way Dhoni, Karthik, Gambhir can fight it out for the place in the team. And may the best man win. Or if the need arises we could play an extra bowler or rotate the senior 3. But none of this will happen.

But, Sehwag SHOULD be considered for the rest of the ODI's (since he is certain not to play the 1st 3). But the problem is with him coming into the playing 11 who will be dropped? I guess it will have to be Saurav. Since there is no chance Dhoni is going to be asked to sit out inspite of his dismal performances in England & SA. Specially when he now adorns the captains hat.

And Piyush must play because the Aussies have seen very less of him & a good spin bowler whom Aussies have seen less off has always troubled them. Sehwag has a very good track record against the Aussies. Rohit Sharma looks like the future class act in the team, he MUST be persisted with. He plays the pull shot pretty well and is much needed against the Champions. Sachin & Ganguly both seem to have struck form. Dravid will as usual be Mr. Dependable while the rest of the team collapses specially on home soil. Uthappa knows the pitch well and will play quite an important role. He has some amazing knocks at this ground and should be high on confidence and the zeal to play in front of his friends & family will urge him further. The Chinnaswamy pitch has always witnessed a good contest between the bat & the ball. The ball swings in the initial overs & comes onto the bat too. So Pathan & RP will be crucial. With Zaheer being the spear head. I would like to see Zaheer and Pathan open the bowling. And if Shreeshant is going to play, he ought to be used as 1st or 2nd change. That guy has no control over a swinging ball whatsoever. I remember Alan Donald did the same, so did Bret Lee. It made them better bowlers until they learnt to control their swing.

And most important thing is complacency. This is one big factor with our Men in Blue. This is not a lottery game like the 20-20. Yes, 20-20 will influence the way the 50 over game is played to a certain extent but the mantra of the 50 over game is still the same.

1. Bat well and score quickly in the first 15 overs.
2. Consolidate in the middle overs. The team that maintains wickets and scores faster in this period has a better chance of setting up huge totals. This is where the match is won or lost most often than not.
3. Normally, the score at 30 overs doubles up at the end of 50. Key is to get in big runs in the last 6-7 overs.

Now the big question is should I pick up my set of binoculars and watch the match live or sit at one of the most popular destinations in town with a couple of friends and enjoy the match on a giant screen over a few drinks.

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

1. Sachin.
2. Ganguly.
3. Dravid - home ground.
4. Uthappa - home ground.
5. Yuvraj.
6. Rohit Sharma.
7. Dhoni.
8. Zaheer Khan.
9. RP Singh.
10. Piyush Chawla.
11. Irfan Pathan.

Are u assuming that to be the batting order?

[normally_crazy]

Piyush is out of the series due to injury and Rohit ain't in the team for the 1st 3 matches

[diabloo]

At the presentation ceremony Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain said
"First of all I want to say something over here. I want to thank you back home Pakistan and where the Muslim lives all over the world."

This is verbatim & totally nonsense.

Note: More Muslims live in India than in Pakistan. Why should he apologize to all Muslims of the world for their defeat? Was it a Muslim V India final? Thats what the Pakistan captain thinks.

[mclaren1885]

Nitin, its not about how much I played or what I know about. All that I know is that ANY COACH in this world or ANY GOOD READER of the game (say for eg commentators like Sunny, Ravi, Boycott) will tell you to bowl straight wicket to wicket. And in the block hole. NO ONE advocates bowling wide, unless the batsmen is making so much room that one feels the need that its the only way to stop the ball from hitting the bat. By bowling wide, you give rise to a lot of shots. The shot over cover, run the ball down to third man or between deep 3rd man and backward point (because you are basically giving room to the batsmen). Joginder got away with the bowling. And bowling to an inform Younis Khan also helped matters.

[mclaren1885]

No Prajesh, that is not the batting order. Dayum NC, didn't know that Piyush's injury was so bad. Oooppsss, forgot that Rohit is not in the team either for the 1st 3 ODI's.

Diabloo, maybe he meant all the Pakistan supporters? English is not their strong hold you know.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

What I would really like to see? Let the captain be Ganguly, ask Dravid to keep wickets. That way Dhoni, Karthik, Gambhir can fight it out for the place in the team.

Hmm, am I missing something, isn't Dhoni the new ODI captain?

[BUSA]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Hmm, am I missing something, isn't Dhoni the new ODI captain?

Yup, if its in Mclarens hands then he would not play anyone of the people playing the T20 you see, no wonder Mclaren aint the coach of the Indian Team

[Samurai]

My wife forwarded this Email message: The mystery is solved.

Misbah thought he was sending the ball to a place where there was no one.
He did not know that there is a malayali in every corner of the world!!!

[diabloo]

Indian team for first three ODIs against Australia:

1. Sourav Ganguly,
2. Sachin Tendulkar,
3. Rahul Dravid,
4. Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain),
5. Robin Uthappa,
6. Dinesh Karthik,
7. MS Dhoni (captain), WK
   
8. Irfan Pathan,
9. Zaheer Khan,
10. Romesh Pawar,
11. RP Singh,
12. Gautam Gambhir,
13. S Sree Santh,
14. Harbhajan Singh.
15. Piyush Chawla,

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Team that might play against the Aussies at Bangalore. I think Bangalore is the 1st ODI right?

1. Sachin.
2. Ganguly.
3. Dravid - home ground.
4. Uthappa - home ground.
5. Yuvraj.
6. Rohit Sharma. ???
7. Dhoni.
8. Zaheer Khan.
9. RP Singh.
10. Piyush Chawla. ???
11. Irfan Pathan.

What I would really like to see? Let the captain be Ganguly ???, ask Dravid to keep wickets ??? That way Dhoni, Karthik, Gambhir can fight it out for the place in the team. And may the best man win. Or if the need arises we could play an extra bowler or rotate the senior 3. But none of this will happen.

??? - mean 'Whats that'?

[balechaparka]

Originally Posted by diabloo

At the presentation ceremony Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain said
"First of all I want to say something over here. I want to thank you back home Pakistan and where the Muslim lives all over the world."

This is verbatim & totally nonsense.

Note: More Muslims live in India than in Pakistan. Why should he apologize to all Muslims of the world for their defeat? Was it a Muslim V India final? Thats what the Pakistan captain thinks.

Yes we too observed this .

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by BUSA

Yup, if its in Mclarens hands then he would not play anyone of the people playing the T20 you see, no wonder Mclaren aint the coach of the Indian Team

Unless you have been blindfolded my dear friend I see 7 of the 11 players in my list from the T20 team. With Sehwag, Karthik, Harbhajan, Gambhir on the sidelines. That makes it 11 out of the 15 who have played T20 . I may not be the Indian coach, but most of my predictions have come true . Expected Irfan and Sehwag to deliver and they did. Expected Dhoni & Karthik to have a quite series and they did. Expected Sachin to return back to form in England and he did. Said Saurav still deserves a place in the team and he proved. Expected Sreeshant to be an inconsistent bowler, and he sure didn't disappoint me. Though Rohit Sharma did impress me leaps and bounds. And it is a welcome change to see Yuvi doing well in pressure games. Hope this trend continues in the future too.

Diabloo, in the absence of Piyush, Powar could be a handful too. But the choice will be tough. Go with someone new or with someone who is reputed to play well against the Aussies in the form of Turbonator. Whose ever bowling suits on a slightly bouncy pitch should get the nod ahead of the Bangalore 1 day.