09.30.08
Batting Team To Choose One Powerplay
We have seen loads of changes in Cricket these days. Coming October 1 will see another new rule being implemented. Batting team will be given the privilege to choose one of the powerplays. This will be the newest experiment in the coming days. This tilts the game in favour of the batsmen further.
There will be lot more talks about the game becoming too much batsmen friendly. I feel this is totally unnecessary. Along with this, the old rule, that is the free hit will also be taken forward. This rule will be tested from the upcoming New Zealand’s tour of Bangladesh. Let us wait and see where this goes.
09.18.08
Tendulkar Expects A Close Contest
The countdown for the Australia’s tour of India has already begun and the Australians will arrive here early next week. The buzz is slowly building up around the Cricketing World for what promises to be an amazing contest. There has already been a lot of talk about this series after all the amazing contest that we had in Australia early this year.
Sachin Tendulkar has always been the centre of attraction, be it on the field or off it. More so these days as he is just 77 runs short of breaking Brian Lara’s Test aggregate of 11,973. He would also love to score heavily after letting his fans down in Sri Lanka where he scored only 95 runs in three tests. He was expected to break the record there. But I personally felt India would be the right place to do it. I am actually waiting to see the crowd reaction here when he surpasses the landmark.
Sachin Tendulkar feels that India vs Australia has become a bigger contest these days than the India vs Pakistan game simply because of the quality cricket played by both the teams. The contest is fought hard to the core and we get to see some excellent performances. India has been one of the successful opponents against the Aussies in the recent times. Their records speak for itself. It is almost 50-50 with Australia leading 6-5 in the last seven years where in fifteen games were played during the period.
He also stressed on the fact that India has won two games down under which is the highest by any team. The only other victory against the Aussies on their soil was when England beat them during the Ashes 2002 at Sydney. Tendulkar thus expects some intriguing contest coming October and when stressed about his record, he simply replied back in his usual cool and composed manner saying “I don’t think too much about records. I want to enjoy my game. If players focus on their performance, records automatically fall into place. I focus on playing the game well. If it [the record] comes in doing so I will be happy.” Thats quite the reply of characteristic Tendulkar which the World knows.
09.12.08
Symonds Loses His Place
After a fortnight long drama and debate, Andrew Symonds has been left out the Australian team which will be touring India later this month. CA has made a clear statement that they will not tolerate any nonsense stuffs even if it is from a senior player which is a pretty good move. But then I personally feel that they’ve gone a step further as he had already been sent home during the Bangladesh series which in itself is a great insult.
What this has done is that the Australians will be without one of their better weapons against the Indian spinners. The very fact that Symonds has averaged about 77 in the last 12 months of test cricket displays the genuine touch he is in. Also, this line up will be short of another spinner in Symonds as he is very capable with the bal specially when the wicket helps him.
This opens up the spot for Shane Watson who would want to grab this opportunity with both hands. What a chance for him to flourisha the test level? This is soemthing that he was looking forward to. There are loads of fresh faces in this Australian team and the surprise inclusion has been that of the 36 year old leg spinner, Bryce McGain. This is not quite the Australian style. He is making his debut and obviously must be talented enough to make it to the big level. McGain has been the best bowler in the last season and his success has earned him the spot.
Just take at look at this Australian squad. In this, only four members (Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Simon Katich, Michael Clarke) were a part of the previous team that toured India.
Squad : Matthew Hayden, Phil Jaques, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Simon Katich, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Brett Lee, Jason Krejza, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Bryce McGain, Stuart Clark, Doug Bollinger
09.11.08
ICC Awards 2008 Round Up
West Indian Batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul bagged the ICC Player Of The Year. With this award, he is the fifth player to receive this prestigious award. He out did the other contenders in Greame Smith, Dale Steyn and Mahela Jayawardene.
South African Dale Steyn was awarded with the Test Player Of The Year. He was in a phenomenal form last year where he became the fastest to 50 test wickets. India’s ODI skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, was awarded the ICC ODI Player Of The Year. Even he has been in good touch steering his team home on many occations.
His deputy, Yuvraj Singh bagged the inaugral ICC T20 Player Of The Year for the six sixes that he hit in the T20 World Cup. The newest Spin Sensation, Ajantha Mendis ran away with the Emerging Player Of The Year Award for his splendid performance against the Indians. The Australian Umpire, Simon Taufel, got his fifth award as the Umpire Of The Year after being voted by all the Captains of the 10 member nations and the 8 match referees.
Sri Lanka received the award for Spirit Of Cricket for the second consecutive time for they have managed to behave very well on the field. English Skipper, Charlotte Edwards won the Women’s Player Of The Year after steering her team to a 4-0 win over the Indians. The ICC Test and ODI twelve have been announced and here is the list.
ICC Test Team of the Year : Greame Smith (SA, capt), Virender Sehwag (Ind), Mahela Jayawardene (SL), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Jacques Kallis (SA), Kumar Sangakkara (SL, wk), Brett Lee (Aus), Ryan Sidebottom (Eng), Dale Steyn (SA), Muttiah Muralitharan (SL). 12th man: Stuart Clark (Aus).
ICC ODI Team of the Year : Hershelle Gibbs (SA), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Ricky Ponting (Aus, capt), Younis Khan (Pak), Andrew Symonds (Aus), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind, wk), Farveez Maharoof (SL), Daniel Vettori (NZ), Brett Lee (Aus), Mitchell Johnson (Aus), Nathan Bracken (Aus). 12th man: Salman Butt (Pak)
09.04.08
Lee Raring To Play In India
After a terrible few days in his life during which he had a break-up in his marriage life, Brett Lee has announced that he is both physically and mentally fit for the tour of India. He sounded pretty keen to make himself available for the tour. Lee took leave during the ongoing Bangladesh series and used this time to get his head right and feels pretty good after the break from the game for a while.
He was seen back with the team at Darwin joking with team mates and keenly speaking to the support staff to ensure that everything was back again on track for him to comeback. Officially, this would be the first time that Brett Lee would be leading the attack. Last time around it was lead by Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillispie and Michael Kasprowicz. He played the role of the twelfth man and is keen to make his first appearance in front of the Indian crowd.
The Indians love Brett Lee for his sheer passion and his friendly attitude and Brett Lee also enjoys playing in India. He says it would be tough playing here and still he enjoys it. Talking about relationships – It sure does affect even the best.
