Arm Ball

Everyone had forgotten about Dravid, the ODI player for 2 years. And suddenly you find him in the probables for CT. He did a fair job in scoring 180 runs in 5 games. And then he is dropped. Why? What are the benchmarks ? What are the reasons ? When the likes of Yousuf Pathan and Rohit Sharma can be given a long run for being young, the likes of Dravid and Ganguly are dropped albeit just for being old. Dravid didnt do a wrong thing in this 5 ODIs he played. 5 ODis is not enough to judge a player.

And that too with a man of Dravid’s stature. Even a fake player like Jayawardhene plays on long in ODIs when he scores 3 ducks back to back. This isnt a way to deal a senior player like Dravid. If this was to be done, then he should not have been included in the ODi scheme as well. Called on the ground of so called weakness of short pitched stuff where the IPL beauties cant play Dravid laid the fears of short ball to rest. Not a single batsman went out to a short ball in the Lankan tri series.

Selectors have shown that they are jokers just like Mohinder Amarnath had famously said 20 years back. That still holds true to this date. Its a sick irony that the likes of Srikanth and Vengsarkar have proved to be same category selectors as the wise fool men as in their times. Who is next ? Tendulkar ? Likes of Hirwani and Raju would decide on the likes of Tendulkar and Dravid ? Cheap way to handle complex affairs. The selectors lack maturity.

Thanks to the quality of players we have (most of the XI) we are way above the mess of Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Else the Srikanths and Dilips are no different than Qasims , Sohails and the Baris of Pakistan and those unpronounciable names from Sri Lanka. Unfortunately the likes of Srikanth and his touts would stay on for long for now. And thats a disgrace to the Indian cricket.

To start with congratulations to Younis Khan for a memorable win.

And as of now the game we lost, the blame goes to the bowlers — RP Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma.

Sachin failed, Kohli failed and Yusuf Pathan now has reached the stage where somebodys gotta go to him and say “Dude thanks a ton. Your T20 skills are too good, unfortunately they dont work in ODIs. Out you go. “

Lad hasnt performed since ages and now he is hurting one place in the team. Not sure how good Nayar kid would be, but still that should be the end of Pathan for now.

Harbhajan Singh now has pathetic record of 10 wkts in 15 games. Horrendous.

In the touring party the other fast bowlers are Praveen Kumar. Who is no different than Ishant Sharma in non swinging pitches.

The fast bowling looks like a worry.

And for the critics of Dravid, here is why he is important to the side even now when the IPL stars have loomed large : hhe has patience and persistence. 76 in 102 balls were the difference why India lost by 54 runs and why not by 85 runs.

Still all is not yet lost for the team. Beat Aussies tomorrow which is a possible task if the team gets its combination right.

And why did Kohli come on 4 instead of 5 or 6 ? This are some of the problems which need an urgent fix. Throw the fast bowlers who are just on the reputation of IPL or tests. We need bowlers who could take wickets on any pitch. Something like Srinath and Zaheer do / did.

All is still not lost.

And yes this post would be a disappointment for flamed readers from the neibhourhood who….

I predict a India – South Africa final .

Not to forget historically Indians have done too good in ODI tournaments in SA and also their greatest win in T20 came in 2007 in SA itself.

If acclimatising to the conditions go, then nobody better than Indians do it after of course the home team. They just played IPL – 2 here 5 months back

Everybody in the Indian team played the IPL and one of them reached the finals. Didnt they. Sachin, Yuvraj, Dravid, Harbhajan and Nehra would cherish the 2003 memories. Especially Nehra when he rocked England in Durban.

India plays Pakistan in Centurion on 26th Sep, the same ground where they royally thumped Pak in 2003 and sent Waqar, Wasim and Anwar out of the cricket career.

The magical 6s to Shoaib from Sachin and Sehwag. The 6s to Wasim Akram. Who can forget that. So who is this time ? Gul ? Or Aamer ?

Let the CT begin. !!

Who said cricket is for youth ?

Perform and keep persisting.

Age doesnt matter. Its just a number. Much for hysteria of the buffoons who know nothing on the game and for whom sustaining the limelight is the only purpose.

How does it matter if you are 25 and keep scoring 20s and 30s remain in the team but a batsman who has had just 5 bad ODIs is dropped for 2 long years. And the man who scores 10700 ODI runs, only 3rd or 4th man in the history to have 10k runs in both formats goes out just cos he is 34. Was 34.

A 40 year old man scores a 98 in the game against India and the 32 year old scores just 1 and 17 and 31 year old hits himself out. And 37 year old takes 5-for in almost every 2nd or 3rd inning and a 26 year old fails after the initial hyesteria.

The top 4 wicket takers are the ones who blossomed in the later years of their careers. The drug abused blonde star who took 40 wickets in losing cause took close to 400 wkts in 2nd part of his career. A jaw broken bowler took 350 wkts in his last 5 years of career when people had written him off.

A 36 year old batsman has scored 9 international hundreds since May 2007 and 7 90s. Out of which many were wrong decisions.

Age is just a number. Fold the number and flush it in the commode of your loo.

That should be the end of DK for long time to come unless he doesnt get his boots going. Just like Rohit Sharma.

Alright so GOD scores 44th 100. Rahul comes at 2 and MS comes at 3. Yuvraj at 4.

India go hit 319 for 5 and win a tri0-series final in years. Last one they won………..ahem ahem ahem dont remember. Got it, CB series 2008, their best ever tri-series win after 2002 Lord’s.

Finals jinx resolved. A tight slap to those who say Sachin doesnt play in finals. Go fag yourself. A whacking fatak (Kaminey isshtyle) to those idiots who say Sachin cant score a 100 in a final.

And a note to the critics of Bhajji . He got a 5-for just for 3rd time in his career. First against other team than England and though it was tail enders whose wkts came to Bhajji, it would lessen the chances of Mishra to sneak into the team.

A final well won and a sweet revenge for the humiliating 139 run loss on Saturday. Would like to see the character of Mahela now who has now got 3 failures in the series and SJ got back to runs about whom he had talked something like pressure on him………..Only thing he would keep playing and he wont be thrown out.

And as again Mendis was neutralised and dusted.

We are # 1. Yup. Cant believe it. 34 wins out of 56 ODIs since 2007 debacle sees bloody Blue BCCI owned Indians go on top.

In the money power, in the financial clout, in the bullying, in muscle twist and now in game too. India are # 1 in ODIs.

Fair judgement. ICC rankings are still crap.

yeah I know people would have critical approach on ODIs, but who cares. When your team goes on top and whoop goes my heart.

Irrespective of dancing baby falling quickly or Dravid falling short of expectations. Yuvraj failing and Sach 4 short of 8x;s fifty, the Indians roasted Kiwis today and tomorrow would gulp Sri Lankans without even bothering about who the fuck Sanga, Blabba, Thilana or Malinga or whoever it is / are.

Bullying ? Yes.

Younis Khan and Umar Gul for sure would ejaculate out of the high they would get if they beat their own bitter and no 1 arch rivals, the b.b. BCCI owned Indians. And imagine if SL beats India tomorrow, how high the Sangas and Blabbas would fly.

Move aside SA, Australia long gone. Kiwis fried, Pakistan is nobody. Its India all the way. #1. Orgasmic. Nice, real and surreal as Hugh Grant says to Julia Roberts in Notting Drill (Hill).

He would be needed as a batsman — the role of Tendulkar would be passed onto him. Mainstay in tests and also groom then the replacements. So I feel he has made a candid admission to relinquish the vice-captaincy and play just as a batsman.

This is another gem from Viru’s cap and thats what makes him the uncomplicated person he is. Keeping the things simple as he bats.

Good stuff Viru!!