Archive for the ‘VVS Laxman’ Category
A good call from Viru
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!!
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.
Mendis should be Splendid again
The battle between the trio of Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman in this order wont be as interesting as it would be when Mendis would be at peak of his powers. Trust me they would come down very very hard to this man for all what happened in SL’ 08.
And not to mention that Sehwag would be itching to make his mark again on the scene with a comeback after the much debated and discussed shoulder injury….And I didnt even mention Yuvraj, Dhoni and the number 1 Test batsman of the world Gautam Gambhir.
Mendis and Murali vs India once again in our home land. Something which SL wont like as they havent won a single Test here, let along come near to winning one in 6 tours. Come October soon!!!
Lol.
“The same could be said about Rahul Dravid. Dravid is a great representative of Indian cricket, a team man, humble, a well-spoken gentleman. But unfortunately he could not score a single run in the early rounds of the IPL, and in my opinion, is not suited to this form of the game. I am certain Dravid’s performances were also affected by the off-field drama created by his franchise owner Vijay Mallya.”
His opinions weren’t restricted to India’s ageing stars. He went on to question Yuvraj Singh’s attitude, though he later clarified that there was no malice involved in his comments.
“Yuvraj Singh in a sense tries to be a modern-day Sourav Ganguly, but I don’t think he has the charisma or the dignity with which Ganguly carries himself,” he said.
Tendulkar has been lauded, and rightly so, as one of the very top batsmen in the history of cricket,” he wrote. “But is he an effective T20 player at this stage of his career?
“In the position he plays – as an opener or No. 3 – the T20 game requires not only the finesse and skills he has, but also the power and domination, an ability to take the bowlers on while being creative. You have to be inventive and fearless. And I don’t see those qualities as part of Sachin’s makeup at this stage of his career. Sachin Tendulkar is still a great player but not in this arena of T20
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.
Deccan chargers beat KKR convincingly
RP Singh was a reveleation. He just loves this format. He should be in for the World T20. Ganguly, Laxman failed. Knight Riders have no strength in their ranks. Whatever they had SRK and Buch robbed them in the pre match runup. Imagine likes of Chopra batting in T20. He never played in any 50 over game. Ridiculous.
And Rohit Sharma played another “cameo”. He comes good when he plays in IPL. He doesnt when he plays for country. May be IPL has more motivation for him as there are lots of Shettys, Zintas and others, while international cricket doesnt.
So after the end of 1st round, the teams that had won their first games last season, have lost their 1st games this season except Delhi Daredevils. This season Deccan would be one of the favorites for semi-final spot.
Multiple strategists or multiple captains?
What do you mean by “group of “strategists” who would report to one on-field captain while making decisions” ? And how does that qualify that as multiple captain theory? Would SRK clarify on that? In my opinion he should shut his mouth on cricketing issues as he is not aware of the facts and certainly he is unqualified to comment on Sunil Gavaskar ’s observations on John Buchanan’s flawed theory. There is always a group of core strategists in every team and terming them as multiple captains is ridiculous. In Indian team whosoever the captain is, he always consults the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid or Laxman for their ideas when the things don’t go per planned way. In older times with Kumble around, Dravid as captain would always turn to him for advice. Or even in ODIs when Sachin plays, MSD turns on to him for some advice. That doesn’t make the consulted players as multiple captains. Either here the media is wrong to have panned out the new term “multiple captains” for multiple strategists or Mr John Buchanan proposed a flawed idea which just cannot work in modern cricket be it International or IPL. Or it could also be the case of KKR owners who have nothing to do with the game of cricket besides putting money in it to coin this term “multiple strategists” to douse this controversy.
Can you imagine a team named Kolkata Knight Riders with no Ganguly as skipper? Cmon whom is John Buchanan kidding? And who would replace Ganguly as skipper if Buch has his way? Hussey or McCullum or Akash Chopra or for that matter Chris Gayle who might be unavailable given the English tour of West Indies? Are this so called buffer skippers better than Ganguly in leading a team? Kolkata cannot exist without Saurav Ganguly. I mean any team related to Kolkata. Though the influence of Saurav isn’t limited to Kolkata alone, but pan India, but Kolkata without Ganguly is like fish without water.
SRK, this is not a new format being tried out. At least not in my knowledge of 22 years of watching and following cricket. I also feel that Sunil Gavaskar ’s criticism on John Buchanan is bit harsh, but that’s not unexpected as he is well known for his dislike for anything Australian and English.
Wellington recession
I hope for a wicket to fall and somebody out of MS or Yuvraj comes in to step up the gas. 550+ should be an ideal target for the demoralised Kiwis to chase.
India’s day on day 4 in Napier Test
India inched towards the safety in Napier Test almost. Provided there is no madness set in the camps on final day. Its futile to expect the lower middle order to contribute much given the likes of Dancer and Yuvraj who strangely is back to his older ways in Test cricket. I still feel he should be persisted in the Tests. Hats off to Gambhir for a restrained 100. His job is not cut out yet. Spend as much as time tomorrow in the middle. One wicket more and then Laxman comes in. After him, not much hope. Dancer would continue to get out in cheap fashion and then nod on the way back to the hut as if he has scored big and got out unfortunately. Amazing man. Wonder what India lost when he was the opener with Jaffer in 2007 prior to Sehwag ’s return in Adelaide. Gambhir was itching to go out and hit the spinners, but Dravid first and then Tendulkar controlled him. Result out in the open. His most valuable 100 after the 206 in final Test against Australia. His 5 hundreds now have come against Australia, England and New Zealand (1 against BD). His average now reads a glorious 52 and he also finished 2000 runs in Tests, something which only 2 lefties in India did before : Saurav and Ajit Wadekar.
Though only 205 runs were scored in the day, Indians showed that they can play old fashioned defensive Test cricket too and it was not boring to watch. It was a shift of gear as per the situation. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid showed the true value of experience. Dravid would be a miffed man, given the way he got out and the way he showed emotions, something which never come out of him. He has silenced his critics who asked him to quit the game. 3 50s, 1 hundred and a duck in last 6 Test innings reflects that he has got his nick back and looks good to carry on even further. Laxman something needs to do to bat well with the tail enders. He has been unable to do so well off late.
All in all it was a good day for India, though it came a bit late. If Gambhir and Tendulkar are able to save one more session then there are very good chances that the Test match would be saved and India would then go for the kill in the final Test from 4/3.
Wishlist
My current wishlist :
· A Dravid and Laxman 300 partnership anywhere. Napier would do.
· A Sachin and Sehwag partnership like Multan 04. Napier would do.
· A 5-for for Zaheer and a jelly bean spur for him. May be Jesse Ryder would be most apt person to do that.
· A India vs South Africa Test series, 5 tests in it. India winning it 5-0
· Ashes series as close as 2005. But results in favor of Australia. May be 5-0 but all close fought games. I think it would be a battle of equals…..
· A Veeru double hundred……………….
Not much to ask for right.
