The Achiever - Gautam Gambhir

Cricinfo - The transformer tags: gauram-gambhir

There is nice article in cricinfo magazine today. Talks about Gautam Gambhir and his achievements in the last two years. He has been very instrumental in India's big wins and also Delhi (his home side) to win Ranji after a long long time.

To me he looks like a match winner every time he comes on to bat. He is one of the very few people in Indian cricket team who is a product of strong domestic cricket foundation and hard work at the international level.

The shots he plays against spinners clearly proves that he has played some quality spin at home and he knows how to clobber them. His shot over the extra covers is the one not many people play that consistently in international cricket. Here is a quick snapshot of what he has done recently and may have been easily forgotten.

Gambhir's ascent

· Gambhir has been the second-highest run-getter in ODIs in 2008: his 649 runs have only been bettered by Salman Butt.

· He topped the run-scoring charts for most part of the Indian Premier League, but was pipped by Shaun Marsh into second place. He hit the most fours - 68, but cleared the boundary only eight times.

· Gambhir scored 440 runs in the CB Series in Australia, outdoing the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Matthew Hayden.

· He led from the front in Delhi's successful 2007-08 Ranji Trophy campaign, scoring 730 runs at an average of 91.25.

· All four of Gambhir's hundreds for Delhi came in the second innings of a match, with two of them steering the team to victory in the semi-final and final.

· With 227 runs, Gambhir was India's top run-scorer at the World Twenty20 in South Africa.

He is back, with a bang

Balaji's home ground return to "limelight cricket" was sensational when he took 5 wickets against Punjab including a hat-trick. This is the 14th in T20 and a thoroughly deserving man got it. He was one of my favorite bowlers back in 2004 when he played a marvelous series against Pakistan. He almost single handedly won India the series.Cricinfo says:

Lakshmipathy Balaji has gone through an entire career in five years - burst onto the scene, won a series, hailed as the next big thing, been injured, recovered, been dropped, injured again, disappeared from public memory - but was yet to play a big match on his home ground. So it was only fitting the famous smile that won over Pakistan in 2004 could manage a grand return in his beloved Chennai.

Balaji's spell of 4 overs 24 runs and 5 wickets was the differentiator in a yet again close match. Chennai's team seems to be coming back on track. While they lost Hayden and Hussey in batting department, they have got Balaji and Morkel as their strike bowlers. This means that Joginder sharma may not get  a chance now to play in IPL.

Update: Timesofindia has this interesting stuff about Balaji. 

Ind-Aus 4th Test. Day 1 and 2

Indian Team belongs to Australia now. They are comfortable playing here and are totally in control of the 4th test. So much that they are enjoying the conditions that Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh put up more than 100 runs for 8th wicket. Austrlian weakness in the bowling was wide exposed by Indians. Indians put up a fighting first innings total of 526, surpassing average 1st innings score at The Adelaide.

Earlier, Sachin's sublime innings came to an end after a fierce battle with the world's best bowler. I think it got to do with the blow he got on his knee from his own shot. But I loved the innings. It was one of those rare one's.

India got a glimpse of the fact that the bowling is not going to be easy here and getting 20 wickets to get a win would need something special from their bowlers. RP's injury can be a blow if he does not recover this morning. Bowling in the right areas and drying out the runs would be the key to frustrate Aussies and eventually get them out.

Australian Perspective on Indian team behavior.

This morning I read this insane piece of writing from cricket-blog. Here are few quotes from it.

'In this series against India we have witnessed something different and unusual. The visitors, with the worst disciplinary record in world cricket, have cried foul. After the Sydney Test, a comment by Kumble to the effect that only one side had been playing in the true spirit of the game, was seized on by the media.'

The whole world knows who are the brats of world cricket. My take on this, the fact that Kumble took a strong stance against the spirit with which Aussies played, was a bomb shell on the Aussie cricket. All the TV footage showed what Aussies were up to. The best was Clark standing after nicking one to 1st slip. Cannot stop laughing.

'Kumble succeeded in muddying the waters. It was no longer just poor umpiring. Somehow the poor behaviour of our cricketers contributed to the result. This was brilliantly conceived and executed.'

As far as muddying the waters is concerned, I don't think the whole world (except Aussie Team and few reporters) can be fooled by the statements and the TV footage. Yes, the composure shown by Kumble in all the press conference was commendable. Brad Hogg should have been slapped a ban, then it would have been 10 out of 10 execution. But we Indians are kind hearted.

'Previous successes had not been built around any overt goodwill toward opposition sides.'

True. Aussies don't know how to win matches by playing fair cricket and with true spirit. They killed the phrase "Gentleman's game" associated with cricket for so long. Yes, they became #1 team by doing so.

'Many Australians underestimate Indian people, seeing them as modest, humble, self-effacing types who are often mistreated and misunderstood. Underneath that exterior you will find many with devious cunning, ruthlessness, astute brains and acumen. Just ask Pacific islanders of countries with a large Indian population base.
'

Do you know anything called, "Intelligent"? I think that is what describes Indians best. For a sport being loved by every India and winning it, you have to be ruthless and cunning.

Suggested Reading who don't agree.

India look all set to win at Delhi.

[photo courtesy: cricinfo.com]
A great day of cricket with India now almost certain to win the first test in Delhi. Its been already been an exhilarating contest. Day 4 started with Pakistan in the driver's seat but great bowling by Zaheer (to be more precise, very disciplined) brought India back into the game, just too quickly. Pakistan batsman on the other hand lacked application and intensity coming in on 4th day. Coach has to tell them that test match is won by playing good cricket session on session and day on day. Pakistan seemed to relax and loose focus after couple of sessions of good cricket.

[photo courtesy: cricinfo.com]

Ganguly surprised everyone in this match but again he is a fighter and loads of experience. I was not too surprised by his contribution. By the time Pakistan finished their innings, the target for India looked comfortable. But previous run chases at kotla suggested that it is going to take huge effort to be able to win the match and more so live up to the expectations from a great batting lineup. Despite a brilliant (after a long time I have seen) performance by Shoaib Akhtar, India is sitting pretty. Ganguly and Jaffar played excellent and positive cricket with Sachin looking comfortable. First match provided a great entertainment which was evident by crowd's presence, just goes to show how the next two matches will be played.

Best of Test cricket...

Cricinfo - A tale of missed chances Annotated

The article discusses an interesting aspect of the test match - Loosing advantage. Day 4 of the test will start with Pakistan in driver's seat. Having a lead of more than 150 and Misbah at the crease, Pakistan needs another 100 runs to put Indians almost out of the game.
If the article holds true for the remaining of the test match, Pakistan would soon loose the advantage and India will be left with 230 odd runs to chase in the last innings. That would be a huge task for India but a perfect platform for Indian batsman to script a memorable victory. Be it Sachin, Saurav or Dhoni, a match winning innings will be the one to remember for a long time. I still think Pakistan has a better bowling attack and they can win the test match if they can put that score on board.

Seeing the match and the wicket's behavior, I think, this wicket is the best to test a batsman's or a bowler's character. The one who has great patience will surely win the battle. I am sure Pakistan will be able to do that in their bowling, I am not sure about India's batting. Pressure and a grave requirement of patience is a danger sign for India. No need to analyze batting order or capabilities of great batting lineup, this is the time to show some charater. I would love to see this test match go down the wire. There is nothing like seeing a re-play of Chennai classic. Come on India!

One who enjoys the game

Yuvraj Singh walks back after being caught in the deep Annotated

Yuvraj seems to be in his prime form. He is bowling ok, batting superb and fielding excellent right now. Most importanty, he seems to enjoy being in the field a lot. He is total control of his game. Just to see where he is in his career -
Yuvraj's record
My favorite video on you tube-

A peaceful day with happy ending.

The most eagerly awaited day after India's dismal performance in World Cup had just gone by. A peaceful day on all accounts means that it was business as usual at BCCI camp and the hype was all about Media's obsession with Indian cricket. In the past few days, almost every cricket lover would have developed an opinion on Cricket India's future and very few people would have predicted events the way they happened today. Rahul Dravid retains captaincy , Greg Chappell offered a different role, Ravi Shastri's name as future Indian coach. All in all, happy ending for everybody. Personally, none of the above decisions are too bad. These may not be too optimistic but again, nobody had a lot of time to think. A hasty decision would have been a bigger disaster.

----->Profile

Rahul is a good captain because he can lead the team by example but BCCI should start grooming a younger leader to replace him in near future. Greg Chappell being involved in NCA is also not a bad move, though it depends on his decision to accept the offer or not. I would suggest a team working with him in tandem to put things in place. If this does not happen then I think we will loose on a lot of initiatives that were started by Greg. Last but not the lease, Ravi Shastri as the national coach. I like Ravi Shastri as a person and have seen him play also. He was not a great player of fast bowling but a good one for Spin (whacked Shane Warne on his debut). Coaching is a different ball game but I think BCCI is now willing to create a team of experts for batting bowling and fielding and Shastri being in charge of that team. I think definition of "Team Manager" is going to be changed now. But that is for near future. Team should start practicing for Bangla tour. What a time for Indo-Bangla cricket clash!

An honest Start and I am not worried about results.

We all know Indian cricket is the richest in the world. Our players are highest paid and board enjoys everything from a government like stature and paid trips to the whole cricketing world. What Indian cricket lacked was, this type of concerted effort. Zee Group annouced an idea about Indian Cricket League. Subhash Chandra who heads the group talk about his brain child.

Subhash Chandra, who heads the Essel Group, owners of the Zee brand, has announced a breakaway cricket series called the Indian Cricket League (ICL). The Essel Group will invest Rs 100 crore (US$ 23 million approx) in the project, which will run parallel to the leagues and tournaments of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The ICL will have six teams with two Indian internationals, four overseas players and eight juniors in each side. At the end of the third year, there will be 16 teams in the ICL.

This is the way to go and an honest beginning at a small level was required. The main idea is to create a pool of talent and not earn money by making national side play enormous amount of cricket.

To achieve its objectives, Zee plans to set up cricket academies equipped with state-of-the-art facilities across the country. Sports medicine would be introduced to ensure players' fitness and a full-fledged record maintained of their behaviour pattern, diet-plan and game statistics. The group will also appoint talent scouts in all 35 states to hunt for young players to play in the ICL.

Professionals at all levels of the game is the only way out. Like we do a job and get paid based on our performance and experience, the same should be applied to the whole institution. I won't be surprised to see people coming in voluntarily to support the cause. I urge former cricketers like Kapil, Sunny, Ravi Shastri to come forward and contribute. It is lot easier to write columns and talk on shows than to actually do it on the field. I think they owe this much to mother India.
The finer points of ICL:

- 6 teams or clubs to play in the opening year
- Talks on with BCCI for gaining access to stadiums
- Executive Board of the league under installation
- Pool of referees and umpires to be created
- Rules committee to form regulations for ICL
- Ombudsman to look into grievances of players
- League to begin with Twenty20 format and move to ODI format
- League to be a joint venture between Essel Group and ILFS Group
- Each team to have a mentor, media manager, psychologist, physio
- Prize money for the winner- US$ 1 million
- League teams to compete with teams internationally
- Number of teams to be increased from 6 to 16 in three years

On Kumble's retirement.

Jumbo's retirement is not a surprise and was expected for a some time now. The most destructive bowler after Kapil Dev had a killer fighting spirit and he will always be remembered for that. I remember his great spell of 6/12 against West Indies in Titan Cup in Calcutta. The figures remained unbeaten for a long long time. He went on to become second bowler in the history to take 10 wickets in an innings. He is the first in modern era. That day at ferozshah kotla was the most amazing day for Indian Bowing history.

clipped from www.ibnlive.com

The group of death - Every team is in Danger.

One upset and the whole group is feeling the heat. Bangladesh has achieved something that is going to go down in history. They well be the responsible party if India or Sri Lanka crash out of the world cup. There is every chance that top three teams in this group (most probably be Ind,Ban,SL) stand with 4 points but with calculators in their hands. Can you imagine, even a .0001 in the net run-rate(NRR) can decide of the fate of a team. India upped their NRR to Positive 2.5 after Bermuda match and SL is already sitting pretty at 4.86. Its now Bangladesh who has to maintain their NRR if they want to qualify. This match against SL may ruin their run rate because of the class bowlers like Vaas and Murali. But again they have to play the last match of the group and that too with Bermuda. They will have exact numbers to put their NRR ahead of either SL or Ind. Being an Indian supporter, I want the match between SL and Ban to be a closest of ties, so their NRR will not change much.
Indians will have to win the match against SL to qualify and win it by quite a margin or if they are chasing, they need to get the runs quickly. Since the points against the other qualifier from the group get carried over to the Super Eight stage, ideally for India, Sri Lanka should be the second qualifier from group B, so that India have two points in their kitty. If Bangladesh qualify along with India, Bangladesh will have that luxury.

clipped from content-usa.cricinfo.com Jayasuriya powers through Bangladesh attack Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Group B, Trinidad 24 overs Sri Lanka 136 for 1 (Jayasuriya 83*, Jayawardene 11*) v Bangladesh Sri Lanka, after being put in to bat by Habibul Bashar, set about to work in clinical fashion, picking off the runs against Bangladesh to reach a superb platform of 136 for 1 an over before the halfway mark of the innings, when rain stopped play. Sanath Jayasuriya and MahelaJayawardene made the most of the opportunity, reeling off big scores. The Bangladesh bowlers were left to rue the missed run out chances as Sanath Jayasuriya repeatedly found the boundary

Pakistan and India - Worst day out

Bob Woolmer said today after the Pakistanis lost to Ireland -
".......with Bangladesh beating India as well. I think you can say that March 17, 2007 will be a historic day for cricket." To a great extent he is right. India and Pakistan suffered their worst defeats ever in World Cup. Pakistan's is worst as they are out of the World Cup but India is tantalisingly close to be bowed out. India played their worst cricket in many months. They are back as one of the most highly rated and the most inconsistent team in the world. I saw the match and again there was no plan and application. All the batsman played wreck less shots and even if the wickets were tumbling on both the ends, no body switched gears and built partnerships. Worst of all, the best players of spin was falling as pack of cards. No body was sticking to basics of playing straight or with the spin. Oh boy and the way Bangladesh played, amazing. Low scoring games often become close games but Bangladeshis were determined and played some excellent shots. The way they played straight and over the in field was mark of a great technique. The way they bowled they hearts out was awe inspiring. With only two seamers, Bangladesh dismissed India under 200 is hard to believe. I can understand this happening against Aussies or SA. But all marks to Bangladesh. They deserved to win. Pakistan too played a very similar game. I don't agree with Inzy's comments that Pitch played bad. They are the team that can handle these situations very well. Poor shot selection and lack of application was responsible for Pakistan's total of 132. In the end, both the totals were too low to defend against spirited sides.

clipped from content-usa.cricinfo.com Inzamam-ul-Haq overcomes his disappointment to congratulate Trent Johnston on Ireland's victory © AFP clipped from content-usa.cricinfo.com

Ponting furious on Gavaskar's remarks

How can Ponting launch such a brutal attack against Sunil Gavaskar, who apart from a cricket great is also a critic and writes for lots Newspapers and cricket magazines. I think this is multi pronged attack on Indian cricket, selectors and captains. Why?? Ponting knows, India is a strong contender for the WC. Aussies are known for their unorthodox tactics off the field to put pressure on oppositions. Things had worked in the past but now people are smarter. This is just another useless Aussie tactic. I love Australia as a team but I hate their behavior on the field when they are frustrated and I think they have got away with this pretty cheaply so far.

clipped from content-usa.cricinfo.com Ponting targets Gavaskar over behaviour "There is not the slightest doubt that in the last decade or so the Aussies have been awesome in batting, bowling and fielding, which has taken them to the top of the cricketing ladder," Gavaskar, who regularly highlights Australia's poor behaviour, wrote in India Today, a national weekly. "But they have also been awful in the way they have sometimes behaved on the field much to the chagrin of the traditional fans of the game." Ricky Ponting said it was "high and mighty" of Sunil Gavaskar to complain about poor on-field behaviour as Australia's captain questioned his role in India's lack of recent Test success. Gavaskar said this week Australia's recent losses to England and New Zealand had "gladdened the hearts" of the game's followers. Ricky Ponting admits he has been reported "more than anybody" since becoming captain © Getty Images "We all know the way he played his cricket, don't we?,"

Dravid's disturbed over easy wins??

Come on Rahul, I know you are real gem at heart. You wouldn't lie even in front of press. I respect your frank opinion. I know its totally different state of mind at this level of competition and I am sure that you guys are there to WIN.
If I was in your shoes and sitting on top of two wins in warm up matches, I would be thinking the following.
- We never had warm-up games before in any world cup. Good that we got to play two to get the feel of the conditions.
- Its great that we played well against Holland (the same team that troubled Indians in WC opener last time) and beat them comprehensively. But in this match also, Holland managed to slow down Indians after initial flurry (something to work on).
- We played great against West Indies. Well creamed them. This happened because your bowlers did amazing to dismiss Lara and folks, under 100. Now Indian bowlers (normally the weaker link in the side) can breath easy and exhume with confidence.
-Although, the batsmen didn't get enough chance in second one dayer, the match did expose Sehwag again and gave him enough to think about.
All these reasons are enough to cheer about Rahul. You guys are a good team in this WC and I am very hopeful that you guys will be successful this time.

clipped from content-usa.cricinfo.com Dravid admits fears over easy warm-up wins Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, is wary that two easy wins in his side's pre-World Cup campaign may backfire on them when they face tougher competition. India brushed aside the Netherlands by 182 runs and West Indies by nine wickets, and while happy with the confidence India gained, Dravid felt there were disadvantages as well. "With a performance like this, it meant that some of our batsmen did not get a chance to bat, and our spin bowlers did not get a chance to bowl," he told reporters in Montego Bay. "I think the advantages some times outweigh the disadvantages when you beat a top team like West Indies so convincingly. I think what it does to the spirit of the team can be very important as well.

Final Four..My predictions

Cricinfo - Most open tournament yet held Annotated

Ian Chappel favours Australia, New Zealand, West Indies and India to scramble into the final four. If, to reach the knock out stage it's the battle he expects, then it'll be a tremendous tournament; it's just a pity it takes so long to reach the highly competitive stage.

My favorite four are :

WI, IND, AUS, SL

My prediction is WI - IND final. It can be anybody's cup from that point.
I favor India.