Cricket Blog

The day belonged to the men from Oz, but the evening was India’s. A gritty fightback at the end of day’s play means that India have some hope going into the last 2 days of play. Day 3 started with India in a seemingly comfortable position of 68 for no loss. How that turned to 106/4 is anybody’s guess? Perhaps it was the variable bounce. Perhaps it was the Aussies’ game plan. Whatever it was, the visitors had quickly reminded everyone why they are still the Number 1 test team in the world.

The hyped and under-pressure Fab 4 had mixed results. Whereas Dravid and Ganguly got amongs the runs, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman had a miserable outing, the former going out at 13 and the latter at a big fat DUCK. All credit must go to Mitchell Johnson who has always been India’s nemesis in the shorter format and it looks like he is going to continue that title in the longer format, aka pinnacle, of the game.

All is not lost for India though. The fightback from Harbhajan and Zaheer in the final session proved that there is not much to worry about in this wicket, especially if you have a little luck and apply yourself properly. The fact that Bhajji made 54, the highest Indian score in the innings, proves that its only a matter of time before one of the experienced batsmen get a big score.

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Australia have announced their squad for the first test against Sri Lanka:

1. Ricky Ponting (captain)
2. Adam Gilchrist
3. Stuart Clark
4. Michael Clarke
5. Matthew Hayden
6. Brad Hogg
7. Michael Hussey
8. Phil Jaques
9. Mitchell Johnson
10. Brett Lee
11. Stuart MacGill
12. Andrew Symonds
13. Shaun Tait (injured) - Ben Hilfenhaus (replacement)

Of the two spinners here, leg-spinner Stuart MacGill and left-armer Brad Hogg will likely vie for a single spinner’s position in the Australian line up. Brett Lee will lead the pace attack comprising Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait.

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Further to the growing list of players joining the two leagues, more Australians have confirmed signing up to the IPL. The ever-growing list now also includes the following:

1. Ricky Ponting
2. Andrew Symonds
3. Brett Lee
4. Nathan Bracken
5. Michael Hussey
6. Adam Gilchrist
7. Brad Haddin
8. Matthew Hayden
9. Mitchell Johnson
10. Simon Katich
11. Jason Gillespie

This would seem like a reverse immigration to me to see so many Australians moving to India to play cricket. A few of them are on their final lap in their international career and the IPL offers an opportunity to move beyond Test and ODI cricket. Another outcome of this is going to be the different skills that they will eventually bring to Indian cricket. The above list of players have signed up for a total of $2,000,000 to be paid by the BCCI.

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“Close Encounters of The Indian Kind” - That’s what the final match was all about. Can India ever defeat Australia convincingly? I don’t really think so. Today’s match definitely proved why the Aussies are World Champions, and will stay like that for quite some time.

Before the match even started, the series belonged to the visitors. Leading 4-1 ensured that this was going to be a dead rubber. The climax was far from dead. The toss was won by Ricky Ponting and, as expected, he decided to bat first. The pitch had some juice in it and the Indian pace bowlers were definitely going to have an advantage early on. Zaheer Khan charged in to bowl the first delivery of the match to Michael “Pup” Clarke. The ball was bang on target and caught Clarkey plumb in front. The appeal was instantaneous, the umpire’s decision even more. Australia were 0-1. India had got the dream start they were looking for.

In comes Ricky Ponting, who has had a pretty average series considering his form over the last couple of years. The Indian bowlers were giving away far too many wides and RP Singh was the leader of the pack. He just wasn’t able to control the seam movement and the extras ensured that the runs kept on ticking up. This also enabled the two Australian batsmen, captain and vice-captain, to settle down. The runs from the bat started coming and a partnership started to build.

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Images Source: Cricinfo.com

This is it, an India vs Pakistan final in a World Cup. Who cares if its only a Twenty20 World Cup. I think after yesterday’s semi-final win against the Aussies, T20 is going to become a huge hit in the subcontinent. If India win the final, the ICC and BCCI must be the biggest beneficiaries, what with the new IPL going to start from next year onwards. The formula of sending a younger team for a big tournament seems to have worked, as for the first time India, considered to be the underdogs right from the word go, have shown what they can do without the holy trinity of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly.

After winning the toss, and as has been the case in the last couple of matches, Mahi decided to bat first. If India had any chance against Australia, they had to bat first and get a big total. Sehwag and Gambhir walked in and started batting with caution. Wickets were important to save as Australia, arguably one of the best bowling line-ups, has one of the best batting line-ups in the world. India had to get pas 170 at the bare minimum to win this match and proceed to the final.

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