12.30.08
Dethroning The Aussies
What an amazing display by the South Africans? They’ve beaten Australia second time in a row in their own backyard to clinch the series with another game to go. How many times can you actually see this happen? It was a splendid display by the new-comer Jean Paul Duminy. He has already got the attention of the bowlers the world over. He has a cool head and he displayed his talent in the toughest of conditions that a fresher can face – Australia. But he looked the part from the very begining.
His first test fifty yielded the South Africans a victory. But his efforts in the second test was the most crucial. South Africans were looking down the barrel at the end of second day’s play. There was almost no chance of a comeback. But Duminy ( 166 runs ) clubbed hands with Dale Steyn ( 76 ) and put on a stunning partnership that saw the South Africans claw back into the game. It was again Dale Steyn who brought about the Australian failure. His five wickets hurt the Aussies very badly.
It was good to see Greame Smith make the best use of his bowling resources. He used Steyn in short spells and he did response by picking up wickets everytime he was given the ball. He bowled with lively pace and immaculate line and length. Others supported him well to dismiss the Aussies to a mediocre total and the South Africans needed just 183 runs for the victory and they did it with utmost ease. They cruised through to the target with nine wickets in hand.
Australians were thoroughly outplayed and the South Africans should thank Jean Paul Duminy and Dale Steyn for this emphatic victory which has seen the Australians being dethroned. Its time for the South Africans to party.
12.23.08
And My Blog Completes One Year
My blog has been here for one year now. This very day a year back I started it during my vacation at Bangalore and I wanted to focus on the ‘then upcoming’ India-Australia series. I was wondering how I would do at this new interest that I had started to develope. Just now I read few of my older posts and I find it, both funny and interesting. Funny – because of the language and the way of expressing things. Interesting – as it has been my stepping stone.
Not that my posts are of very good language now, but then I find it better now. I still remember reading every possible article that I could before I actually wrote a post. There are so many things why I love this blog. I feel connected to this blog emotionally. I always wanted to watch a match live from the stadium but never got to actually see one. It happened ( two matches – India Vs South Africa and India Vs England, borh at Chennai ) once I started this blog as I was keen to get the first hand view of the proceedings rather than read an article and know what others felt.
I’ve explored so many things through my blog and I’m very happy with the responses that I’ve been getting. The stats now stand at about 26500+ unique visits. I’m very happy with the way its going. I will keep doing what I did but probably in a better manner. I thank everyone who has complimented me and kept me going. I expect more interactions from you people. Keep the comments coming and make my blog more interactive. Cheers!!!
12.22.08
KP Breaks The Jinx
All the Indian and English fans would have been happy finally. The long wait is over. Kevin Pietersen finally cracked the secret code of scoring runs in the subcontienent. He has rediscovered his lost touch. It was indeed a heartening sight to see him playing his natural game and dominate the Indian bowlers with his uncanny art of playing out of the when you don’t expect him to.
He came in at a crucial juncture when two of his team men were back in the dressing room with just seven deliveries into the innings. He survived the initial one over spell from Yuvraj Singh who has surprisingly been successful against KP. He played Yuvraj cautiously during his entire innings and his stats were there as a proof. He scored just 3 runs from the 17 deliveries that Yuvraj bowled to him.
KP played his switch shots with tremendous effect agains the Indian spinners. He thoroughly dominated the day and brought up his 15th century in just his 45th test. He finally fell when on 144 in the penultimate over of the day. He clearly was disappointed with the way the game went on in the last 10 minutes for them. He himself has ruled out an English win and said that from here on they’ll try to save the test. This isn’t something that you expect from KP. Thats the way that India have outplayed them.
12.21.08
South Africa Nail Australia
Yet another stunning run chase in Tests making it two within a week. First it was India chasing a near impossible 387 versus England at Chennai where the wicket was doing quite a bit for the spinners. Now, it is the turn of the South Africans against the mighty Australians at Perth chasing 413, the second highest target. They have managed to nail the Aussies by six-wickets.
In both the cases, the openers have done their job. It was Virender Sehwag for India who set up the chase with a blitzkreig and it was the South African skipper, Greame Smith, who set up the chase with a stunning century. He played with such an authority that the Aussies didn’t have any of their plans working.
There were also timely contributions and good partnerships from Jacques Kallis, Hasim Amla and Jean Paul Duminy with all the three scoring fifties. Duminy was playing in his debut game and it must be a really proud moment for him. AB deVillers started of from where Smith had left and even he scored an amazing century keeping the Aussie attack at bay just like Tendulkar did for India by carrying the innings till the end. Except Mitchell Johnson who picked up 11 wickets in the game, none of the Aussie bowlers troubled the South African batsmen. Johnson was exceptional and no wonder he picked 11 of the total 14 South African wickets in the game.
The celebrations will be very wild and this paves way for an interesting fight for the second spot on the Test Rankings and both the teams fighting for this spot are doing very well. It would be interesting to see India and South Africa lock horns with this form.
P.S. : Since 2000, a total in excess of 300 has been chased down on nine occasions, the most in any decade. Clearly the targets are easily being chased down in the fourth innings with proper application and good game knowledge.
The Wall Never Cracks
Rahul Dravid has once again proved that he is too good to be neglected. He displayed amazing temperament and with the talks of him batting down the order to overcome his poor form, he surely would have wanted to prove everyone wrong. Mahendra Singh Dhoni again did the right thing by sending Rahul Dravid at his usual number three position with the overhead conditions likely to support the pacers and also Virender Sehwag falling early. Yet another good call by the Indian Captain.
Rahul Dravid was thus given a chance to prove that he can still bat his way out of bad form in the conditions suitable for the bowlers. He has been India’s most successful number three batsman for quite sometime now and he also became the first batsman to cross the 8,000 runs mark batting at number three while he completed his 26th century of his stunning career. Clearly it was celebration time for his fans and for himself as he admitted that he was relived of the pressure of not scoring for sometime now.
I was expecting him to break the jinx at Chennai itself, but the, none the less I’m happy he has finally done it. We can expect Dravid to score heavily again specially after the efforts that he must have put in to get out of this lean patch. The final word – “The Wall Never Cracks”.
