- Can’t chase,
- Can’t defend,
- Can’t capitalize on good starts,
- Can’t recover from collapses,
- Chase defeat from jaws of victory
- Simply not consistent enough!
All the above was true about team India until this season! India started performing well under Ganguly but they lost almost 11 finals under his reign. The consistency was still lacking and chasing was not the best thing we could do.
We must give credit to Chappell and Dravid for building the team upto this level. Wright & Ganguly showed them what grit and gumption was all about while Chappell & Dravid have taught them to not waver and take the bull by the horns! Dravid surely has transferred his key qualities: Patience, concentration and performing under pressure!
Third time this season a clean sweep! First against SL, then Pak and now England. Agreed SL and England were not exactly top class opposition but then we have not managed such dominance even over weaker sides in the past so we must give credit where it’s due!
No hope in first match after being bundled out for 203 and Harbhajan who was under fire for his poor form since the Pakistan tour came up with a magical spell.
Second ODI India were reeling at 92-5 chasing 226 when Raina all of 19 played a knock (81 of 89 balls) that could well book his place in the side till the World cup. What a talented bloke he is! His fielding is brilliant; rarely does his throw miss the stumps! Along with Yuvraj and Kaif he easily saves 40 odd runs in the field.
The third match Yuvraj and Raina played blinders to give England an impossible target to chase and finally the last match India decimated England in all aspects! The slow bowlers did the trick and Dravid, Yuvraj and Raina ensured India won convincingly!
And who would have thought the team known as 'poor chasers' would break the long standing WI record of 14 consecutive wins while batting second! We managed 15! Someone once said, 'Never give up on hope, miracles happen everyday'. These 15 consecutive wins batting second were definitely miracles for me;-)
There are a few worries at the top of the order (that could make up for another blog post!) and I for one think Sehwag has got too many chances! What do you say?
It’s a pity that I did not get to see any of the matches live. Wish there were more on the weekends!Hoping that we don’t peak too early and now the real test would be beating SA and Australia.
Kudos India, keep the adrenalin flowing and go for a neat 7-0 win!
P.S: The blog is being updated poorly due to a lot of offline happenings…Will post soon again!
6 comments:
"I for one think Sehwag has got too many chances! What do you say?"
What about Kaif.
Pardon my french but Kaif cant do shit.
Tell me one stroke other than driving the ball, he can play(Which he doesnt seem to do well now a days). As for fielding, we have better option now in Raina.
He is not worth keeping in the side. Take my word. He will score some stupid half century here and there ad will cement his side for next two years.
Uthappa and Gambhir are better choices.
Ketan
Yes, I think Sehwag has been given too many chances. That's what I don't understand about this 'look into the future' team management. How are they able to drop a Gambhir after 10 failures (or so) and let Sehwag continue even though he is less menacing than he has ever been?
To further complicate things, he is now the stand-in captain for the next two ODI's while Dravid takes a break. How will he cope? We'll see. Given the luck he has had in the past, he will lead from the front and score a century in one of the two games and it will be back to 'normal' after that.
Hope to see you blogging more often. And hope things are going well offline.
I agree with Ketan. Sehwag is given chances because he is special, he is capable of turning it around to do special things. Kaif is a talentless, overhyped kid who would not make the first 15 of most good sides. He is too one-dimensional in his strokeplay and lacks the consistency to cover for that drawback.
@Ketan: Did not want to mention Kaif. He was never the gifted-talented bloke but someone I thought who was sincere and hard working. But if he not going to lift his game with competition creeping up then yes he too should be sitting out soon. Yuvraj has left him far behind!
@Tugga: I hope the same answer applies to you! But I do not agree that just cause a bloke is special he is never shown the stick! I think Sehwag has taken it for granted. I was there at the stadium recently, and saw him at close quarters. He seems the least fit of all players, why do I get the feeling he is going the Ganguly way! How often is he getting out to the short-pitched stuff?
@RPM: There you have my views on the bloke. I like him, when he is in full flow he is a delight with his unorthodox shot making however one cannot keep ignoreing the fact that this guy needs to be dropped to come back firing!
Things are good:-) Will write about them once they are through:-) And as for blogging might reduce the frequency but will never go off it!
Hi,
Have been here off and on... am still amazed by the fact that a female is so interested in cricket (not football, tennis, etc... but cricket!) that she writes about it so often.
Sorry... was not meant to be a chauvenistic comment.. but have never come across any female who is so damned interested in this sport
@Nirav: Have got that a lot since my college days:-)Immune to it now:-) I love the sport, its my first love and will always be;-)
This blog has given me the opportunity to know other people's views on the game and I've enjoyed it:-)
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