Archive for the ‘Jacques Kallis’ Category
Great Innings and Averages
Lets not forget the 180 by Dravid in Calcutta and then 233 and 72* in Adelaide 2003. Laxman’s 150 odd in Adelaide and epic 281 in Calcutta. Ricky Ponting’s saving 156 in 3rd Test Ashes 2005 was another effort of greatness. Steve Waugh’s batting efforts are full of valiance and bravery. Mohinder Amarnath in 1983 or Vishy in 1975 (perhaps). DBV in 1986 in England. This are landmark innings to quote just a few. And then contrast this with the innings by SL batsmen off late. Which ones would hold substance and weight ? Consider the opposition, conditions and match situations before judging a batsman quality. Many times batsmen dont score 100s but their efforts are as great as it can be. Who can forget Dravid’s effort in 4th Test in WI when no other batsmen either side crossed 50. Gavaskar’s last innings in Test cricket was in a losing cause. For that matter 138 by Inzamam which saved his career and got his captaincy in 2003 against BD. And JImmy Adams holding on with Walsh against strong Akram, Akhtar and Waqar in 2000 Carrib series. Does that count less than a great innings ?
The best test, as it has always been, is to check how the player did
against the finest team of his era. Sunil Gavaskar had 13 centuries against West
Indies, Sachin Tendulkar has 10 against Australia. Brian Lara had nine.
Inzamam-ul-Haq finished with one from 14 Tests.
RCB favorites for the finals.
Manish Pandey, Ross Taylor, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble have been the stars for RCB. Ross Taylor’s innings against KKR(most prolly) turned around the things.
They stand favorites today for the title. and if they win, its just going to be another feather in the cap of Anil Kumble, the fighter and hard spirited cricketer we know. The one whose attitude was the best in the team alongside his batting great peers.
Go RCB…..Purely for delight RD, AK bring watching them.
Bangalore Comes of Age
Right now Bangalore are hanging at # 4. Some more upsets today would see them go at the top of the table. That won’t be a surprise though, now that Rahul is back too, the team should fancy itself for a semi-final spot. Today’s game is a bit of fancy ride for Chennai. If they win this, they go at the top of the table with 9 points and Bangalore drop to 5. If Deccans win then they maintain their top spot and nothing changes in the standings. The top 4 spots are too crowded and too tight to be in the comfort zone for anybody to sit and relax. Mumbai Indians are suffering for their lack of decisive punch. Harbhajan is out of form and Zaheer is hot and cold. They can’t just win on basis of 3 players – Tendulkar, Duminy and Malinga. At least 4 or 5 players need to fire and one of them big time. Who else than their best batsman. Time is running out for Mumbai Indians. Also need for them to throw out the likes of Takwale, Raje and Kulkarni who at best are liabilities and don’t inspire winning confidence in the team. They have 2 more days to recuperate and go back to the drawing board to reformulate their strategies. And for that Tendulkar will need to drop his anchor role and assume the prima donna role of savage harvester of runs as he is in the international circuit.
Bangalore vs Deccan Live..
Super shot from Gilly he is on fire. May be Australia would recall him in Dubai against new minnows Pakistan. And again. 2 in this over. 3 in first. KP surely needs to think something more. Mark Nicholas and Ravi Shastri, 2 of the best 3 on fire as well. Laxman vs Kumble would be a great contest to watch. Six, but say it six Markie. Not DLF maximum. Gibbs takes over. Orgasmic start. Kallis on. 4 skippers in the BRC team. 2 Indians and 2 Saffers. Kallis and Uthappa think that they have got Gibbs, but umpire unmoved. 0/33 in 3.3. Poor keeping by Uthappa. Boy PK was sweeped for a 6 by Gibbs. Shows how paceful Kumar is. And he is gone. 1st wkt.
Pehelwan ko gussa aa gaya. Sala Bewda Pehelwan ko jhadu marta hai. Le tu out. LOL..Lacchu pehelwan in. Praveen Pehelwan to Lacchu pehelwan. Now the PP would know what batting means and artistery means. Gibbs looked not out. Laxman plays one down to Kumble at gully. How ironic. In Tests Laxman used to watch Kumble from 2/3rd slip standing in gully. And today he is playing one to his ex-captain. Kallis back in attack. DD 1/49 in 5 overs.
GIlly on fire. 1 six and 1 four. Vintage Gilly. Kumble in. Laxman faces. Almost foxed. Vintage Indians on the opposite side. Jesse boy in and gets Laxman out 1st ball. Laxman was never a hitter of the ball in air. And now bikini man ROhit Sharma would be in. Mostly would have got lotsa kisses and hugs from cheerleaders. So an extra motivaation to score runs and hit sixes, pass on flying kisses to the babes around…He is a mumbaikar playing for hyderabad. Saying anything against him is saying it against Mumbai. Anil bowling well. Uthappa propping him up. Almost had Gilly. Vintage Kumble. Get in the bikini man too.
KP has a golden arm….2 wkts now. Just that he shud bat good too.KP now has 2wickets and a catch. Bikini man was out. 52 runs made. Consideration for t20 world cup done. Dhoni and coach happpy. Cheerleaders happy. Dude got stuff worth 2-3 days to live with. 185 to win for Royal Challengers. I dont think they can do it.
Whoa whatta start for Bengaluru? 3rd in row a duck. ROTFL. Jesse Ryder must be feeling huge to go back home. He had lot of success against India in Test and ODI series, but IPl has been nightmare. 2 games and 2 ducks.
Kallis is next skipper for BRC. He is gone too. Hopelessness continues. KP is in. I doubt Dravid on his own would be able to do anything. But he is doing. Oye Pappe. Kise ghoor riya he ? Crease pe jo khada he wo sabka baap hai. Haha. Harmeet singh giving a stare to Dravid after being taken for runs. Now RD hits back in style to the men who kicked him off the captaincy. He has been the sole run getter for BRC this year and last year. The so called valuable pickings and most payed cricketers from foreign land have turned dud. Its all around Rahul Dravid. Pieterson falling for 11, Kallis the next skipper for 15 n the young gun Uthappa for 12. Dravid is making runs at strike rate of 195 runs per 100 balls. Its insane to term Rahul guilty of low fortunes for BRC team. Mallaya owns answers. He owes a public apology to Rahul. And all those bloggers and assholes who have termed Rahul as a test player. Do they forget that he possess record of fastest 50 by an Indian in ODIs. And amongst famed Indian batsmen in iPL he owns one of the highest strike rates. Less than Veeru but higher than MS, Sharma lalla and others. And with him gone, the hopes of a victory are gone.
Praveen Kumar is run out after making no efforts to reach to the crease. And he did have to say a lot to Kohli. Pehelwan ko fir gussa aaya. Thank God utha ke patak nahi diya. Kohli coming of age here, he is keeping BRC alive. Future prospects look bright for Kohli. Way better than Rohit Sharma. No slogs, no slangs, pure cricketing shots. Jeeyo Kohli bhiya Jeeyo.
Aussies prevail.
Australia had it. The ranking was preserved. Not that it mattered to its fans. But it did to its critics. And yes critics were floored again as were the Saffers. Saffers just don’t have in it them to maintain a consistent run to beat the top notch teams. Win against Aussies in 2 games and then falling flat 3 times in row. That just sparked Aussies. And perhaps that means the end of road for the likes of Roy and Shane Watson for now. The likes of Hughes, North, Siddle and McDonald have provided a spark to the team which was lacking in India and the home season. They are the future stars of the Australian cricket and would have a long Test careers ahead of them. The stars of the Aussie triumph – JPD, Steyn, Amla, Morkel and Smith, all faded out. Kallis was never a match winner. He never had that fear imbibing quality in opposition team in him.
Australia had rookies, Saffers had so called best attack in the world, which just chickened out in its own home yard. Johannesburg is now the Perth for Saffers. 2 consecutive Test losses for them on the ground. There is one more test to go and doesn’t matter if Australia lose. They showed it to the world that they rule the world and it was also displayed huge words the only team that can take them on is India. India and South Africa won series against them this season. But then Saffers have lost 3 tests, winning 2. India has won 2 and lost none. They have now won 3 in last 5 tests and drew 2. That proves once more the worthy contenders for Test top spot is India. And there is no qualms in that. Rankings doesn’t matter here. Win or lose, India would always remain the best bet to beat Aussies now.
Ponting ’s real test would start now in his ability to lead the team through the transition. It won’t be possible for them to win every Test they play as they did before, but if they could even achieve 60% of their earlier success, they would be happy to enter the transition phase.
Bryan Coverdale puts this perspective very gently here
Australia go 1-0 up
Oh man gimme a break.
For Australia the debutants stood out esp North who hit his 1st hundred. Johnson got wickets, Hussey got ducks, Ponting got yorkers, Smith got jitters. Now his 2 big wins in Australia stand negated. It cud well have been 3-1 for Aussies rather than 2-2.
Today morning it seemed that Saffers would go for the kill. But then Kallis continued his selfish run with the bat and never assumed the threatening proportion to put Aussies on backfoot. Perth hero JPD didnt click and Boucher was all alone to put up a fight. Hilfenhaus played supporting role to perfection and Siddle assisted Johnson to wipe out the tail once Kallis was gone.
It was a game of 15 sessions where Aussies won handsomely 12-3. Perhaps that answers few distractors who questioned my logic to go behind Aussies. But even though Saffers lost, they played intensive cricket and that to me rates above the boring brand we get to endure with the Asian giants sans us and Carribean torture where England is fast falling the steep slope. Its pretty much clear that they aint going to win a series now in West Indies this time.
Great Leveller and 4 Batsmen on decline…………..
Cricket is a game of great leveler. If a day you fly high, the next day in a test match you are back to ground. That’s what happened to Viru Sehwag. If he set up the historic Indian chase on 4th day of Chennai Test, then today he fell for 0. A harsh irony indeed.
4 Strugglers are occupying the crease right now in different parts of world. They are :
1. Rahul Dravid
2. Mathew Hayden – has fallen. Perhaps has also fallen for last time. Is that the end of the Big Matt ?
3. Ricky Ponting – Duckling in the first innings : )
4. Jacques Kallis – Made a 63, but never looks intimidating against top class teams.
4 of this millenium’s prolific batsmen on their way out.
