Arm Ball

Munaf has a attitude issue. If Free for all Santh has a fiery attitude, then Numma has a laidback attitude. You’d never know if he is switched on or if he is dreaming of a hug by Shilpa Shetty, his IPL team co-owner.

He had a huge pace 3 years back, now he has 120. Ding Dong you would bark on this, I know this. He would be a fake McGrath and would no longer be the bowler he was just for once he was in that tour game in 2006 vs England when he broke timber with his pace.

Sudeep Tyagi is a good choice, but not sure if he would be able to play more than a or 2 ODIs. If he makes his debut and gets a decent success against Australia, he would be a major find for the country.

And then we can say “Sreesanth gaya tel lene”.

Batting order more or less is settled with the only questions on # 7 ?

Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Raina, Ravinder Jadeja ?, Harbhajan, Ishant, Neehra and Mishra / Tyagi.

First 6 is settled combination that looks good for the world cup at home.

The number 7 is now a fresh hunt for a bowling allrounder in the mould of Firaan Pathan. Either he or naybody half as good as him would do. Preferably fast Gill bowler.

Before fuming on Poms for their time wasting tactics in Cardiff yesterday, didnt you remember the infamous Sydney Test 2008 ?

The game which was India’s owned both morally and technically until you stooped to lowest ebb to win the 16th test in row.

I support your team, but then that was the instance I believed in word ‘Ugly Aussie’. You have earned bad bad reputation in India after that incident when Kumble famously termed only one team was playing with real spirits of cricket.

I suggest before you teach anybody morality, you should come foreward and issue an unconditional apology to those bloody Indian cricketers whom you claimed out when they were not and ask ICC to nullify the Sydney result and thus make the series result 1-1.

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Gavaskar_was_no_angel_in_his_playing_days_Ponting/articleshow/3732054.cms

And then :

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3727799.cms

Where he says Dhoni and team are good for T20s as this format has less time to catch technical flaws of players like Dhoni and Yuvraj….That was a while ago before Dhoni led India to 2-0 victory over Ponting ‘s Aussies…

Does this imply that entire world is conspiring against Australia and Ponting including their own media ? Is Ponting error free ? Is he over the game ? Never seen a loose talk from an Aussie captain………..Perhaps time for him to get a MRI scan for his brain which seems to have lost the sense…..

This series is comparable to the Ashes 2006-07 down under where a mass exodus happened for Australians and so it did for India. We have lost 2 of our greatest cricketers – one who was a greatest skipper of the country and the other one who was greatest match winner we ever had but never got his due. The moment he knew he wont be fit enough for the deciding test of the series, he quit. That’s Anil Kumble for you. His bowling skills were fading and his shoulder wasn’t able to cope up the responsibility of delivering major quota of bowling, he quit. And he did it in style. The mental strength and the spirit was unmatched throughout his career.

The so called old aged cricket simply outclassed the new age cricket. The aggression, the intent, the motivation and the spirits of the game always rested on one side of the teams and that was WE the INDIANS. This victory is one of the greatest wins achieved in the history of Test cricket. Beating a team best in the world by 2-0 with no corner left unconquered is a big achievement and it couldn’t have come up unless everybody in the team could have contributed. It was the opening partnership of Sehwag and Gambhir/ Vijay that led the foundation, with not so solid contributions from the WALL, supreme batting display by the middle order often calming the tempers and adjusting the tempo of the game by Sachin, VVS and of course Laxman. When in trouble rescued by Dhoni and so were the contributions from Zak and Bhajji in batting. AK contributed with bat, not so much with ball, but kept the spirits of the team high with a dream and today we have achieved that dream of beating the best in the world without loosing anything.

If batsmen were supreme, then so were the bowlers. Ishant was the pick of bowlers and then Zaheer Khan often got his bunny Hayden for major part of series. Bhajji contributed in his way though not as the way he would have liked to. Mishra delivered when the onus was given to him and he could be heir apparent to AK but he has got a long way to go. Ishant Sharma has evolved to an altogether different class and now he is ready to deliver goods everywhere. Very important for India to preserve this rare commodity and use him sensibly.

The seniors have slammed their critics and after Mohali victory, the media didn’t have a word to say against them. Sachin Tendulkar achieved personal milestones, but never lost the cause of winning the series against Australians. He has scored 900 runs against them in 8 tests this year with 3 hundreds and 3 fiftees which has helped team win 3 Test matches to 2 losses against the mighty team. If Laxman appeared lax in first 2 games, he stuck with a mighty return to form so much so that Aussies had to wait for 324 runs to finally dismiss him. Ganguly never distracted from his ultimate mission to overcome the Aussies in his last hurrah and not only did he score a wonderful 100, but also rescued India in Bangalore and Delhi with gritty knocks. This is Ganguly’s team. He has made it with his skills and acumen. Dhoni, Sehwag, Bhajji, Zaheer prospered under his leadership. He transformed the team from a ordinary team to a team of world beaters. And what a fitting farewell he gets. With a victory in the series and gaining back the Border- Gavaskar trophy after 5 years.

Australians were out-thought, out classed in every department. They got their team composition wrong and it was shocking to see the tactics on the day 4 last session when they had last chance to seal the series and retain the coveted trophy. Slow over rate for sure is going to land Ponting to trouble. He should be lucky that the next 3 series he plays are against weaker teams of NZ and SA, so he would escape the scrutiny. But for sure the Aussies are no more invincible. It was shocking to see them fold up in 50 overs. Patience lacked and nobody showed intent to save the game. Except Hayden nobody wished to stay on the crease.

Lee had a forgettable tour with just 8 wkts and trouble with Ponting in 2nd test didn’t help him either. Clark would learn how to ball on unhelpful wkts. Johnson took wkts but leaked out rains. Siddle was ok in the only test he played. Cameron White never looked menacing with bat and ball. And Krejza had a crazy debut, leaking 360 runs for 12 wkts. He might be or might not be a good spinner for Aussies, but then he s got to look into the runs he concedes for the wkts he takes. Except Hussey, no batsmen lived upto his reputation. Watson is no Symmo and Haddin is no Gilchrist either. Perhaps Aussies need back Roy and for good he is eligible to come back to the folds again.

This is a beginning of new age for Indian cricket when it moves to transition from a greatest middle order to a pretty thin and relatively less famed middle order, though for few months to come RD, ST and VVS would be there. But they wont be playing forever. And unfortunately the new aged batsmen aint patient or gifted as this 4 greats. And MSD is the best of leader for India in this new transition.

Kudos to India and a bid adieu to AK and SG…..