Cricket Blog

On Tuesday, 28th October, over a billion people celebrated the Hindu festival of Diwali. Fireworks, sweets, gifts, gatherings - it is a festival that encompasses all of India. The third test match is going to be something like a Diwali festival. Expect plenty of fireworks from both the teams. There will be some sweet moments and some not so sweet. The pitch itself is a “parting gift” to Indian captain Anil Kumble.

In what could be described as a unique opportunity for India, they now have a chance to seal the series in Fortress Delhi. India have won their last 7 matches that they have played in the capital city. They have been unbeaten in the last 21 years in Delhi. The most destructive opening pair in test cricket at the moment are from Delhi. Indian skipper, Anil Kumble, took 10 out of 10 in Delhi. Saurav Ganguly, in his last test series, averages 60.55 here.

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The “Revenge Series” is about to begin in a few hours time. The Australians are pumped up. The Indians are fresh from a high that they have never experienced in over two decades. The atmosphere is going to be high voltage. The drama has already started.

What can we expect from this series? The Aussies are definitely hurt by the semi-final loss to a bunch of nobody’s with not a single superstar and for some inexplicable reason they have not liked the celebrations in India. By now, I thought, they would have been used to see this. Indians love to celebrate and if that means blowing a win out of proportions, then so be it.

There has been a shift in rivalry in cricket in the last decade. The India vs Pakistan and Australia vs England series don’t generate that much hype anymore than an India vs Australia series does. Even though Australia has won 9 out of it’s last 10 matches against India, the 10th match (the semi-final loss) has hit them the hardest. Which also means that they are going to come down hard at the Indians. Which, in turn, means that this is going to be one hell of a series if India can match the aggression.

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Here we are. The most exciting summer of cricket in a long while is almost over, with one last flourish still left. India and England are going to fight out at Lord’s for the final one-dayer in this long and grueling tour. Just a week ago, India were staring at defeat with the series slipping out. They were 1-3 down and had to win all their matches. So far they have done exactly that with one final hurdle left.

This will, for a few Indians, be the last time they ever play in England. The Big 3 - Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid - have done their country proud over the years. They have helped in laying the foundation for the next generation, they have provided role models for aspiring cricketers. They have gained respect in the eyes of the entire cricket fraternity. This will be their final hurrah in England and nothing better than to win the match and the series will do.

The momentum is surely with India at the moment, however, in the past we have seen how India have failed to carry on the momentum. But this time it ought to be different. These three have had a wonderful summer so far. Sachin and Saurav have smashed the bowling to all parts. Dravid has been having a much better time as a skipper, seeing his team perform to its potential. No coach, no problemo. I have to give credit to the way the Indian team has got the job done without a head coach. A lot of people ask if they need a coach. The answer is simple, a big fat Yes. Sure the team is on the verge of winning an ODI series. Sure they have won the test series. But this can’t keep up for too long. It is too much to ask the captain to strategize everything all by himself. The Indians have handled themselves admirably both on and off the field.

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Another day, another must-win situation, another team selection dilemma. This type of thing seems to follow India wherever they go. Today is no different. The Oval has not been a happy hunting ground for the Indians in ODIs with the country winning only 2 out of 9 matches played here. However, it was this ground when a few weeks ago Team India registered a series winning draw in the third match of the test series. So stats can go to hell for the moment, as another explosive contest is expected from these two teams.

Dravid insists that playing 7 batsmen + 4 bowlers or 6 batsmen + 5 bowlers does not make much of a difference and he may be right. Whenever India have gone for the extra bowler they have stumbled. Yet, Dravid may still go ahead with 5 bowlers in this crucial match. With the pitch offering support for spinners in the second innings, India need not go for the fifth bowler as Powar and Chawla have performed magnificently throughout the ODI series so far.

The problem for India has not so much been their bowling than their batting. The batsmen have got runs but have not been consistent enough. For India to be able to be in a match-winning situation they need the openers to put on around 75-100 runs atleast so that Dravid, Yuvraj and Dhoni can come and blast the bowling. I still think that rather than sending Karthik up the order, Dhoni should be used as a surprise weapon in these final two matches. Once this man settles down, England can forget that they are going to win this match.

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Birmingham, the second biggest city in England, and the place where the Industrial revolution took birth. The weather is “supposed” to be bright and sunny, just what the Indians would love. However, the start is most likely to be under cloud cover. That shouldn’t bother India as Zaheer is going to be included in the side.

So lets get to the point. The series is level at 1-1. India came back from a humiliating defeat to scrape through in the second - thats what the scorecard would have us believe. The win was once again due to a balanced team effort. Even in the first match, India lost because the entire team failed (well it sure was a collective failure, hence a team effort). The 2nd ODI was a complete role reversal for Team India. The batsmen fired, the bowlers fired and the fielding completely misfired - yet again.

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