Skip to main content

A new dawn?

So finally some real cricket has picked up again after the 50 day bore that was IPL 2011 (Pak vs. WI in their current states is not real cricket ;-)). And what a beginning! If India needed any further confirmation that this upcoming tour of Eng is going to be one of their toughest (even tougher than SA last year) in a while, Cardiff provided that. Granted this Sri Lankan team is not one of the toughest going around but to blow them away in less than half the length of an ODI innings without their premier strike bowler is testament to how strong this English team has become. And the key difference between SA and Eng is Graeme Swann, who at the moment is clearly the best spinner in the world by a mile. India have been served their warning and will hopefully take the WI tour seriously enough to toughen themselves up for the English summer.

The WI tour itself should be exciting, primarily because it will give a glimpse of the future of Indian cricket particularly in the limited overs formats. Six of the most experienced members of the XI who led the charge on April 2 are not going to be around and only Dhoni and Zaheer will be back for the Test leg of the tour. Its going to be fascinating to see how Raina and Kohli cope with being the batting seniors and whether Harbhajan can truly become an attack leader. Without Sehwag, Gambhir, and Tendulkar its going to be a Test for the batsmen even against the WI and I'm really keen to see if a) the all TN opening pair can bloom, and b) if Dhoni is courageous enough to play five bowlers. All in all, should be an exciting few months on this front!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Et tu?

As a single sport website, I think Cricinfo has brought about a revolution and the fact that they were bought by ESPN is testament to how highly valued they've become. Their editing and approach to articles/opinion has been refreshing to say the least and even though they seem to have had a lot of editorial staff movement they've usually maintained very high standards. Off late though, both in their headline styles as well as in actual content, there seems to be an occasional slippage of standards and an inching towards the modern media sensationalism which is a bit of a pity. This piece  by Siddharth Monga is a classic example. Granted that the last two press conferences by Dhoni and Sehwag  indicated clearly that the captain and his deputy did not agree on this aspect of selection but "discord", "dissent", "public sniping" feels rather presumptuous and heavy handed. Yes, it is a team sport but there is no reason why everyone on the team needs ...
1 comment
Read more

Much ado about a run-out

Judging by the amount that's been said and written about Ian Bell's run-out-that-wasn't at Trent Bridge, you would think that it has been the most significant occurrence of the series so far when nothing could be further from the truth. Andrew Miller  and Samir Chopra seem to be of the opinion that it was the crucial turning point in the match, which I completely disagree with (the post-tea sessions on days one and two were far more critical and momentum shifting). Andy Flower says that if Tendulkar had been run-out similarly in Bombay, it would have caused an international incident. He's clearly feeling the effects of having been in the England cricket set-up for too long given that a) its very improbable that Tendulkar would do something as daft as Bell did, and b) when a controversial run-out (but within the laws) did happen to him (against Pakistan at Eden Gardens no less), Tendulkar went out to the crowd and appealed to them to calm down and let the game proceed...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Ashes part deux: series preview

While I admire the honest, outspoken style that Ian Chappell has in his commentary and writing I don't find myself agreeing with his views very often. This latest piece on ESPNcricinfo is an exception though. In what is a faintly ridiculous set of back to back Ashes series (to accommodate an ODI World Cup of all things), the build-up to the second round has been laughable almost. Anyone who hasn't followed the game for a few years might be forgiven if they thought that the Australian domination from the 1990s and early 2000s has continued and that they will win in a canter again. For a team that's lost seven of their last nine matches (and it should have been eight really), that's quite a good turnaround on paper (and digitally). The reality though is that unless they show a drastic improvement (especially in terms of scoring runs) and England have a bit of a shocker, its going to be well nigh impossible for Australia to win back the urn. Despite putting Buffoon Bo...
Post a Comment
Read more