Arm Ball

And their best bowler in the warm up game is not going to play the most important game of the CT. Not because he is a lowly bowler on talent, but because his captain doesnt put that trust in him.

This is South Africa and there is place for just one spinner. And that spinenr is going to be Harbhajan Singh who is fresh from a 5-for.

RP Singh had a fabulous T20 world cup in 2007. How far he goes this time is not very sure as he is not seeming to be in good form. He was clobbered for 66 runs in 8 overs by Neil Broom.

Ishant Sharma has been on and off. Praveen Kumar well I am not sure if he would be playing. Ashish Nehra seems to be the best bet to rely on right now.

Zaheer Khan seems to be missed big time in this tournament. A country where he has been tremendously successful except the match on 3/23/03 against Australia, the biggest match of his career.

Possible bowling line up looks like : Nehra, Ishant, Harbhajan and RP.

Batting more or less looks settled. Tendulkar, Gambhir to open with Dravid at 3, Yuvraj at 4, MS at 5, Raina at 6. 7th spot seems to be in a bit of doubt. I would rather give the benefit of doubt to Yusuf Pathan in the first game and then may be try Nayar in the game against dummy Bangladesh…..

If the bowlers do their job half decent, the Indians would be good to live up to their reputation as the best ODI team in last 2 years. They have now won 6 trophies on trot. No other team can boast of the same record.

Go long Yusuf.

“I want to be part of Indian Test side”. Said Pathan few days back.

“Mera bhai Irfan, mera chota bhai Irfan, Shivan(g)i ka pati Irfan, mere pitaji ka beta Irfan is excluded from Indian ODI team for non cricketing reasons. Selectors ki maa ki……….”

“I didnt say anything on my chota bhai Irfan. Wo to kuch journos ne mujhe mithai khila di to maine khushi me majak kar diya”. He said today.

Koi gal nahi Yusuf Pathan bhai, just remember one thing you are not ex player, you are current player. Yadi ODI cricket khelna hai to bhai apne performance par dhyan do aur selectors ko gaali dena chod do. Kisi selector ka dimag ka dahi ho gaya to bhiya aap apni jagah kho baithenge and MS bhai bhi kuch nahi kar payenge. So thoda bach ke rahiyo. Apni jagah banaye rakho aur match jeetate raho.

So no more blabbering in anger sir…..

Good over. 2 off the first one for Ireland.

Zaheer bowling the 2nd over. Swing again. Wide ball. Trying hard to hit the ball for boundary, timing not right for Bray. Zaheer Khan would have pleasent memories of Nottingham Test, the one India won in 2007. Jelly beans. Yusuf Pathan in slips. Amazing. This ball came inside the left hander. Thats it. Bowled. Confidence. Bowler’s delight.

1/4 in 2 overs.

Pathan back for 2nd over. Still no boundary. Pathan speeds below 130 . Miss again. Skipper on strike. He opens. Indian skipper comes on 3rd. He is trashed. 2 to end the over.

1/9 in 3.0

Zaheer takes his 2nd. And Yusuf grabs one in the slip. Skipper gone. Usual slippers for India in ODIs are either Sehwag (DK’ed), Gambhir or Raina. None of the last two standing today in the silips. Perhaps Sehwag would return to India through Chennai flight

Good pouch by YP. Stil no boundary. 11 for 2 in 21 balls. First boundary there. Ishant couldnt stop. Oh boy. YP on roll. Zaks on fire. Poor shot. Ireland in trouble. Pakistan should meet MS before their super 8 game against Ireland to avoid 2007 repeat (very rare though).

3/18 in 4.0

Ishant begins with a 4. 6 off the over.

3/24 in 5.0

Another bowling change ? Yes its YS bowling. More slow options for MS though — Bhajji, Ojha P, Raina and Sharma R.

Great to hear Anil’s voice. The great man is now in commentary team and he would be joined in by hhis ex-captain, who is also India’s greatest skipper — supposed quota selection from Bengal. ROTFL.

Power plays are gone. 4 from the 6th over. 3/28 in 6.

Another bowling change and another wicket. Ojha Naman this time. Oops No. Pragyan Ojha this time. MS’s luck (??) continues. Aircel ads on the TV. A network from TN for mobiles endorsed by MS, the TN IPL team skipper. Did i ever write on Arm Ball that I wanted CSK to win but I also wanted AK to excel. He did.

Does Ojha chuck ? May be yes if he gets some success against Australia .Bad throw. Run out chance missed. CSK player missed the chance. Raina . Ojha not happy. He is tossing the ball up.

4/30 in 7.

Bhajji in the attack. His spin partner in the commentary box. Wkts needed for this supposed loud mouthed sardaar. Nope, not my opinion. Reverse sweep. 3 off the over.

4/34 in 8.

First boundary in many overs. Ojha needs a wkt.

11 from the over. 4/45 in 9. Half way mark. AirCell ad again. Mind itttttt!!!

Slow phase of he game. Runs and wkts have dried up. There you go. First wkt for HS. Confidence booster for him.

50 up for Ireeland. Did Ishant tour 2007 to England ? I dont think so. 11 gone. 5 for 54. 40 balls to go. 42 to get for 100.

5 for 65 in 12.

Pretty tight bowling from Indians. 4 more to go and Ireland are just 5 for 69. Ojha for last over. No boundaries

Simple dismissal. Ojha gets 6th of the tournament. Highest wicket taker now. Ridiculous running from Batter. Appeal for run out. Could be out. Yes he is. 7th gone.

7 for 73 in 15.

First four in long time. Irfan back in the attack. Runs aplenty here, Pathan sucks for the speed. Four to end the over. 7/88 in 16.

Zaheer takes his 4th. 4th time an Indian bowler takes a 4for in T20I Ireland all set to get a 100. Can Zaks get a 5- for ? No. 17 gone. 8 / 97. Mis field from Zaheer. 8/100. Bhajji not happy. In the air. 2 more. Another boundary. 8/107. Tough luck for this boundary. Triple nelson. End of innings. 8/112 in 18.

Shane Warne the wily old fox needs to return to the Aussie fold for their most obsessed fight with the Poms Aussies need Haydos and Warney.

From Indian team perspective only RP Singh, P Ojha, Suresh Raina have come good (T20 team). Failure of skipper, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma would be a cause of concern!!!

BTW Yousuf Pathan is loving the Safari!!!

Yousuf Pathan and Kamran Khan were the stars of the game Royals vs Riders and then there was AB all over against Chennai Super Kings. This year the Kings and the Royals aint coming good. MSD has suffered 2 losses out of 3. I would rather wish he suffers all losses he is destined to for this year in IPL, so that when he returns to national fold, he carries back the superb momentum his team is carrying in all forms of the game.

Kamran Khan bowled a super last over in the 2nd game. He is a future star for India if he maintains his progress. Warnie almost handled him like a kid. Lets hope he doesnt become another Munaf Patel who was his usual ridiculous on the field. No passion, no improvisation, same grin and same lax attitude. Kick him out,

Ganguly almost saw Knight Riders home but again he lend few nasty punches to Dildo and Coachie. Haha. I am catching up on the Fake IPL player terminologies.

In the other match Hayden showed what Australia are missing from their national team. Gilchrist and Hayden are sorely missed in the national team. Hayden continued his superb run of form although Freddie and MSD continued to dazzle off.

Veeru and Gautam suffered a rare failure. Again I would wish they suffer more failures destined for them in the year here rather than in the national colors or whites.

One more final thing. Ajantha Mendis is no more a surprise or mystery element. He was sorted and cleaned up by Yousuf Pathan. haha. 18 runs off 4 balls. Amazing man. Mendis could have been good in his main 4 overs spell but he was unimaginative in Super Over and whosoever decided to give him a ball was short visioned. For sure it was not Ganguly. His passion for the game even this stage was visible when he was annoyed with himself and Yashpal Singh when latter got out.

Best day of IPL – 2 so far. Also best in the sense that we didnt have to listen the blabbers and irritating laughters of Shilpa Shetty.