India in England, 2011: First Thoughts

As the minutes trickle by with inescapable slowness till the afternoon of the 21^st, what better way waste some of them than with pointless thoughts about what we might have in store for us then.

Four tests in England! My aren’t the BCCI being generous. Mm mm mm.

The immediate thing that strikes one about the series is how evenly the two teams stack up against each other. Both bear a settled look with competition mainly for the third seamers place. Both are certain to play seven batsmen and four bowlers, with three seamers and an off-spinner being the likely combination.

The similarity between the teams borders on the ridiculous when you consider that until Sehwag returns, aside from Broad’s left-hand batting, the teams line up identically vis-a-vis which hand they prefer. Spot for spot, there are interesting contests on offer.

The Openers – England hold the advantage here. This is mainly because Sehwag is certain to miss the first two, and Strauss weighs over fledgling Mukund for whom this is a big opportunity. Cook’s stupendous recent run is scary, but you would argue that Gautham Gambhir can hold his own against him. Interestingly, Gambhir made his debut in 2004 but has played only 38 tests to Cook’s 68 since 2006. Gambhir’s average is slightly better, but he missed the last tour to England and so will be making his debut there.

The Middle Order – There is little that can be said about this Indian middle order that hasn’t been said before. Yes they are aging but that’s unavoidable given our collective failure as a nation to figure out how to prevent it. I’m just happy to watch them bat for as long as possible. The English match up evenly. As a massive compliment to Jonathan Trott, he has Dravid-like temperament and grit. Sachin is well... Sachin, and KP can do this. Ian Bell and VVS Laxman are both exquisite stylists in good form. Familiarity with conditions gives the English whatever little the Indians score over them in reputation.

The Late Order – Ian Morgan and Suresh Raina are similar in that they are excellent one day batsmen whose test credentials are under examination. I believe that Raina has a major role to play in the Indian team’s future. His susceptibility to the short ball should prove less of a disadvantage in Tests because he doesn’t need to score off them. He also has a better defensive technique than Yuvraj Singh. As I write this, he has notched up a counter-attacking hundred in the Somerset game. There is some talk of his spot being under pressure from Yuvraj, but I wouldn’t drop him unless he failed in all of the first three tests. Dhoni and Prior are good keepers with similar batting averages and aggressive approaches. Harbhajan and Broad can also do damage with the bat.

The Quicks – Khan and Anderson are master swing bowlers, deadly and dangerous. Ishant and Tremlett both tall and gangly, looking to bang it in and jangle the splices. Broad and Sree, petulant and badly behaved, looking to see who can throw the bigger tantrum. It is all too similar. Khan will want to find Strauss’s number and keep dialing it, but he had no such luck in the warm-up game. Khan usually delivers, but Ishant and Sree are much more inconsistent and a lot will depend on whether they show up. Very honestly, Anderson and Tremlett are scary prospects and in my opinion, England edge India here.

The Offies – Swann looks the much more threatening bowler, despite Habhajan’s weight of wickets. If Swann is able to trouble the Indian batsmen, it will add much force to claims of him being the best spinner around.

The Bench – India have some variety in the bowling cupboard with a leg spinner and Kumar’s medium paced swing. If India drop Sree, I would pick Kumar ahead of Munaf, who doesn’t look like much of a threat in Tests. An adventurous captain would give Mishra a shot before Harbhajan, but I do not see this happening. Another bad game and I would replace Broad with another seam bowler, of which England have plenty.

With recent form and home advantage behind them, I would say England hold the slight edge. But all of this is moot once the first ball is bowled.

Speaking of which, I wonder what time it is?...

On the Myth of Test Cricket's Approaching Death

As a loser who spends much too much time reading anything cricket related, it is hard to ignore the preachers of doom. At times they amuse, but mostly they just irritate.

I refer to a segment of cricket writing in which test cricket is constantly perceived as being under threat and every little thing or the other – empty stadiums, slow scoring rates, batsman friendly pitches, bowler friendly pitches, draws, rain, defensive play, aggressive play, red balls, pink balls, lights, no lights – is either an indication of, or a reason for “what is wrong with test cricket” or “why test cricket is not relevant” or “why test cricket is dying” or some such other bullshit.

There are plenty of such examples in the wake of the recent test match at Dominica. Like cockroaches crawling out of the woodwork at the scent of rotting food, an “abandoned chase” in a low scoring test series is simply too much to resist.

It amuses me because the people writing this stuff are obviously conflicted. On the one hand they watch test cricket and write about it and are interested in it. On the other, they are deeply dissatisfied with it.

It irritates me because it is nonsense. It particularly irks when this general rubric of fear is used to plead for changes to the game, or the inclusion or exclusion of specific players and playing styles. The message is always the same “test cricket must do this or that or it will DIE.”

Take for example this recent gem from Shashi Tharoor - “With the throbbing, pulsating, time-bound and cheerleader-inflected joys of Twenty20 on offer around the world, Test cricket looks in danger of failing the viability test that any activity depending on public support must pass.” Yech! Disgusting.

I do not watch test cricket because it is popular. I honestly don’t give a shit who else watches it, or whether market forces and trends favour it. I watch test cricket because it is simply the best game ever. And it sickens me when people suggest that it must change just so as to become more popular. It is characteristic of the insatiable greed that it is no longer shameful to espouse, maybe even fashionable today.

And the funny thing is – test cricket is as popular as I can ever remember. Over the last seventeen years of my love affair with the game, never has so much interest been shown, never has so much been written about it. In fact it is quite possibly due to this overload of interest that this rubbish ends up popping up everywhere

And what if test cricket were to lose popularity? It may attract lesser talent, there may be fewer games, and there possibly may not be television coverage any more. Would I still watch it? Yes. Would I rather it became more like limited over cricket to avoid such a fate? No. And in simple response to Mr.Tharoor, there will always be enough public support for test cricket because there are enough people who love it as it is.

Don’t get me wrong. I am no defender of the status quo. I would love to see more countries playing test cricket, more test matches instead LOIs, and more people watching them. But these things might not be possible unless test cricket were to become something other than itself. If there is a demise that one should fear, it is that.

Why is it called the "mandatory fifteen overs"?

Yes. Why?

Whatever the reason is, its stupid because they are not.

It kind of feels like getting your pocket picked. This has never happened to me, but if I were to imagine what it would feel like, it might feel like this. Test cricket calls for devotion from its fans. You have to watch the damn thing over five days and some of it is Chanderpaul batting. Thats a lot of your time invested. And then the players are just allowed to walk off with an hour to spare, either for tactical reasons or because they simply don't feel like it. It is plain wrong.

It isn't about whether Sammy or Dhoni made the right decisions, its that they should not have the capacity to make those decisions. It is a terrible rule, because the injustices that it sometimes causes are so much worse than the little periods of dreariness it seeks to avoid. In Zaltman's words it is a "nonsensical insult to Test cricket's supporters".

The other rule that is manifestly unjust to followers of the game is the limit on how long play can go on when there is sufficient light. When the required number of overs have not been bowled in a match, it is a travesty to watch players troop off in bright sunshine simply because "it is six o clock".

Is it too much to expect of the ICC's cricket committee to suggest corrections to these glaring instances of bad rule-making, instead of unleashing their powers of imagination on when power-plays can be held in ODIs?

These are bad rules. Change them.

Stupid Rain

Its raining all over the place in India as the Monsoons set in.

It rained in Bridgetown. When it didn't, it rained in Kathmandu where I found myself for the second test. Ten cricket doesn't work in the rain in Kathmandu.

Its raining in Roseau.

It was raining in Nottingham. It could have kept raining in Nottingham and washed away a silly one sided ODI. Everyone would have been the happier for it, not the least the English press who keep having to eat the thousands of words they generate each day, just to have to shit them out uncontrollably the next and eat them again in an endless cycle which never seems to end.

But no. It kept raining in Roseau.

Sri Lankan Sports Minister comes across as illiterate

He has ordered a probe and asked for a report. On a one hour speech, the transcript of which takes about twenty minutes to read - both available to the public.

Couldn't he have just watched or listened or read, and made a few phone calls?

Sabina Park, Days 3 & 4

A good test match, robbed of cracker status by the West Indian collapse in the first session on Day 4. Though history is important and it didn’t favour West Indian victory, I thought they had given themselves a half decent chance with their batting (not to mention some poor bowling from India) on Day 3. 63 runs is not all that much anyway.

Dravid really was the difference between the sides, and he underlined his class with a beautiful knock on a difficult wicket. He scored 16% of the total runs in the match, 30% of India’s, and 44% of India’s second innings total. In my opinion the elegance of his strokeplay, whether in defense or attack, is unparalleled, and he has always been my favourite batsman to watch. What keeps him head and shoulders above most other batsmen though, is his temperament. Yesterday’s innings was a lesson in patience and good judgment.

Bhajji needs to flight the ball more, and use his fuller quick ones for LBWs, especially against the left-handers. He does this regularly in India, so I don’t know why didn’t here. PK had an impressive debut. The Windies bowled well, and their batting let them down with accustomed familiarity.

My man of the match goes to Charles Joseph, the groundsman at Sabina (since 1962!). Like 2006, it was an ideal test wicket, assisting seam and spin, and providing a stage for proper batsmanship. Weather permitting, a track like this will always produce a result and test cricket needs more of it. Don’t like Jamaica. I love her.

Sabina Park, Day 2

It’s nice to see PK in whites. People will always wonder whether his lack of pace equals insipidness in test cricket, but his with his control and ability, it would be nice if he got his chance. He will feel a little stupid for getting warned thrice for running on.

The pitch was doing a lot for the second day, but the West Indies’ batting is obviously their main concern. To be honest, they are short on quality, and it is mind bogglingly ridiculous that their best batsman is not playing because of issues with his board. If this was happening in India, there would at least be a few effigies being burnt, with a little damage to property thrown in.

Mukund has looked better than Vijay, and I wonder how much difference his 36 runs will make in the larger scheme of things. Except for that lucky chance, Dravid showed much better application today, and hopefully he can keep that going tomorrow.

Special mention goes to Ian Gould for Sarwan’s LBW decision. It’s great to see an Umpire calling a spade a spade, and penalizing a batsman for pretending to play a shot to ball which is hitting the stumps. It was bang on and ballsy.

Special mention also of the man-love between Kohli and Edwards.

Sabina Park, Day 1

What an entertaining start to the season! Wickets galore in the first session, wickets and an absolute blitz in the second, and wickets again in the third. Edwards and Bishoo deserve special mention for their bowling, and in Bishoo’s case, his fielding too.

None of the Indian batsmen showed the required application. Dravid fell to uncharacteristic and unnecessary aggression when set. Raina could have played better with the tail. You can’t really blame Bhajji, that’s the way he plays.

Barring bad weather, this one will have a result. The Windies are ahead at this stage, but not by much. Will this be another first test disaster for India, or can they pull it back today?

India in the Windies 2011 - Preview

The Windies

The whole “they were once the greatest but look at them now” discourse is really boring. When I started watching cricket, the Windies were still very good, and they have slipped since then. But a West Indies tour retains its worth for me because it is special.

It is special because it is the far corner of the world when it comes to cricket, and it is cricket’s only proper bastion in the western hemisphere.

It is special because it’s the West Indies. What sort of dimwit skips a West Indies tour for a rest? The sort of dimwit that can’t find rest in an archipelago of beautiful islands.

It is special because they were once great opponents. Maybe the greatest ever. I enjoy trolling through accounts of how good they all were.

And luckily, cricket is continuum, and to give you a sense of historical context, in 100 ODIs played between us, the Windies have won 55 to India’s 42. I.e., it will take 13 straight wins for India to even equal things between us. Still think the Windies are playing for pride in this series?

The West Indies cricket team of today may be no match to their predecessors, and the pitches and politics may be shite, but I still like to watch them try, and watching them win today is probably the least pissed off I have been after an Indian loss.

Andre Russell and Lendl Simmons are worth keeping an eye on. They have interesting bowlers in Roach, Rampaul, Taylor, Edwards, Bishoo, and of course Russell. Most of them are good athletes. The batting seems pretty weak, but if Gayle and the selectors could get over the “we aren’t speaking to each other” nonsense, there would be at least one seriously destructive batsman in the side.

I was hoping that they won at least one of these JAMODIs. I think it is best not to stir up the home team’s spirit with a clean sweep at inconsequential LOIs, when you want to whop them at real cricket.

And just to give you the proper historical context for that, of the 82 test matches played between us and them, they have won 30, and we 11.

The Umpires

Norman Malcolm has to be the worst umpire I have ever seen in international cricket. I have never seen a dismissal like Pollard’s in the 3^rd ODI. I mean, he gave it out only because the Indians wouldn’t stop appealing. You could see that. And the way he gave Badrinath not out in the 4^th ODI was simply astonishing. I have seen Random Rudi do something like this once before. I can’t be bothered to remember where. But even Rudi didn’t slide his hand across his neck to ask the players to shut up after he had half lifted his hand to give a player out! Such obvious indecision from an umpire should spread like wildfire amongst the players. Given the power that umpires exercise in cricket, his further participation in any serious cricket would be an injustice to the players whose careers he impacts.

The Commentators

I never got to watch Dujon play, and from what I read he was pretty impressive. As a commentator though, he is just hilarious. He obviously doesn’t give a shit. The other day, he says “so Pakistan win” just after India won a match. Well, we’re often on the verge of war, but were once one, and are pretty close on a map, so maybe his confusion is understandable. Today, he watches a super-slow-mo replay from Amit Mishra and expertly pinpoints that “that’s the carom ball.” All with this lovely drawl and he never bothers to correct himself. That’s pretty cool. Take a bow Test Match Sofa, you guys have some serious competition.

And Us

Rohit Sharma’s been ok, Kohli less responsible than you expect of him these days, and Raina pretty flaky. Of the batsman, Parthiv Patel has surprised me pleasantly.

Unfortunately Badrinath looks like a Ramprakashian figure in Indian cricket. I have never seen him comfortable against an international attack, and I can’t see him in our test side (Wellofcouse as someone who struggles against a 50mph tennis ball, I would be happy to be proved wrong).

Amit Mishra pleases me. But I don’t know if that’s just because he is a leg spinner or if he is a good leg spinner.

The Ashwin – Harbhajan contest is interesting. A lot of people seem to be backing Ashwin to replace Bhajji. Ashwin definitely looks like the better batsman, but when in comes to their bowling, I am unsure.

Ashwin is always economical, and Bhajji is a lot of the time, but who gives a shit about that. What concerns me is that Ashwin effectively spins the ball with one finger, thereby limiting the amount of turn he can get. A spinner who doesn’t turn the ball is like an eggless cake, i.e., a slow-medium bowler, Jonathan Trott even!!!

Hopefully Ashwin can get the Kumble mojo going. He interests me.

Still life in the old dog

My rant about the futility of the Asia Cup seems to have been ill-timed. Certainly the performances of the Srilanka-Pakistan match bordered on the brilliant. Afridi hitting Murali for five sixes. Afridi hitting 109 of 76 balls. Slinger-in-chief Malinga picking five wickets and the return of the original bad boy - Shoaib Akthar. But, the stand-out moment was Sangakkara producing a moment of magic to catch Afridi of Murali.
Even on off days, Champions have their say and atleast on yesterday's evidence "The Asia Cup is Magic"

The Return of the Redundant

Nearly two years ago, on this very same blogspot, I had written about the Asia Cup http://islandexpress.blogspot.com/2008/06/significance-of-insignificant.html. Strange how two years later, each and every word I wrote still retain its significance.
The redundant tournament tries to justify its existence. A meaningless tournament or an important milestone. My vote is still for the former.

One all!

Unless god intervenes, either by reincarnating himself in the form of one or more of the South African batsmen, or more simply, be letting torrents of rain wash away Indian dreams, the result of the second test between India and South Africa is a foregone conclusion at the end of day 3.

Yet again, the epic battle for world domination between these two great warriors, fought on grounds that conjure Mahabharat like visions of thunderbolts flying through the air and dust rising high from the stomping of brave foot soldiers, ends with a whimper, rather than a bang. The senseless mandarins of the BCCI and the puppets of Zuma that allowed this travesty (of a two test series between the top two sides) to pass, should be lined up and tortured by being made to watch videos of the 3 test series between India and Sri Lanka for atleast 8 consecutive days.

Why 8? Because in revenge too, there must be justice. And since 8 days of riveting test match cricket is what they gave us (game over tomorrow?), it is our responsibility, nay our moral duty, to give these power mongering, public hating monsters, 8 days of watching Indian batsmen ground the Sri Lankan tigers to dust (as a complete aside, would it not have been great fun if the Dhoni saving 1,411 tigers ad was aired at the same time as the Indian batsmen were pummelling the Sri Lankan tigers? Also, how does one arrive at this exact number of 1,411 - is there a roll call every morning, a prediction from a forest official who fancies himself to be somewhat of a nostradamus, or some other form of the great Indian rope trick???)

And despite previous predictions going horribly wrong, I yet again dare a prediction - this game will be over by the end of the day tomorrow, with the Indian spinners ripping through South Africa after Khan has finished de-energizing his bunny Smith.

The Fast and the Furious

As expected, Pakistan, through a combination of ineptitude, infighting and ball biting madness, connived to leave Australian shores without a single win in a tour spread over the three formats of the game. In three tests, 5 one dayers and 1 t-20 game, Pakistan were consistently competitive for exactly two days (during the second test) and mostly abysmal for the rest of the tour. Well and truly, a tour DOWN UNDER.

On Friday, despite the superheroic acts of the bowling unit and some very un-Pakistan like fielding, the supporting cast that has become the batting unit, put in performances that could, in a parallel universe where more than movies were taken into account, have provided for the nomination of a fair few of the Pakistani batsman for the Razzies this year.

For batsmen that play the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Aamer and Gul regularly and presumably comfortably, the inability to play the pace of Tait, Nannes and Johnson was inexplicable. But for Kamran's fearless attack, the world champions of T20 were likely to be humbled by margins that would truly have been a reflection of the difference in quality between the two sides.

A special mention for Tait's bowling on Friday is in order. His slowest ball was clocked at well over 150 KMPH and his fastest at 162 KMPH. For the mathematically challenged, that gives the batsman, standing about 19 yards away, approximately 0.4 seconds to spot the ball, judge where it is going to land, get his foot in position and get the bat swinging in time! And they say that this is a batsman's game...

Misery loves company goes the famous saying and how that was true of Friday. With Shaun Tait making life miserable at one end through raw pace, agression and remarkable accuracy, Pakistan was forced to take on the slower offerings from Nannes and Johnson, both of whom were bowling well into the high 140's throughout their spells... the pressure told and Pakistan crumbled like a biscuit held too long in a cup of tea. Pakistan needs to introspect long and hard about what went wrong on the tour if they hope to remain competitive on the international scene - the time for giving delusional media bytes about being competitive, trying hard and improving every day is over, as hopefully is Yousuf's captaincy.

The Whitewash

Well, as expected, Australia did go on to duly complete the whitewash and claimed the series 5-0.

Despite the predictable result, there were enough interesting events that transpired during the game yesterday, and strangely enough, each and every one that comes to my mind relates to the Pakistan team. The first of the lot is ofcourse Shahid Afridi's captaincy and the manner in which the rest of the Pakistani team reacts to his leadership. For the first time this series, Pakistan looked like a side that was switched on - their energy and chirpiness while fielding was not that of a side that had not won a game in 2 months, but of one that had not lost for as long as they could remember. In complete contrast to their reputations, they ran well between the wickets while they batted and their was intent in every run (a lot of the strokes still left a lot to be desired, but perhaps those too can be put down to the injection of Afridinile) and more importantly, unlike their performance this entire tour, they fielded remarkably well (and to my recollection, did not drop a catch!). Like all great leaders, Afridi leads by example and the rest of the Pakistani team seems to draw from his intensity and fire. The PCB could do worse than ask Yousuf to step down and make Afridi the captain in ODI's in addition to the T-20's.

Which brings me to the second point. If news reports are to be believed, the PCB and its minions did get Yousuf to step down from captaincy yesterday so that Afridi could be given an opportunity. If that is indeed the case (and the sore knee is nothing but a shabby excuse), then I must congratulate the PCB for their imagination. Yousuf, on the other hand, deserves a spanking on his back-side if he refused to play because he was not captain. It is high time Yousuf accepts that he is not a great leader (or even if he is, he is not the type of leader that the Pakistani cricket team needs) and instead concentrates on his role as the best batsman in the side, atleast for the few years that he has left.

The third interesting development was ofcourse Afridi's ball tampering. For someone who has been playing internationl cricket for a decade, it was the silliest stupidest thing to do on a cricket field, where get this, 26 cameras were focussed on the action. Now, if its someone like Younis khan attempting this, there is a miniscule chance that no camera would be focussed on him at that point in time - but the chances of no camera being focussed at the captain of the defending team during a tense run chase are about as good as Rohit Sharma's chances of learning to deal with the short ball. And then he goes out and says that he was in fact ball tampering - not that he was cleaning the ball, but that he was ball tampering... sigh....

Punishment has been swift and Afridi has been banned for 2 T-20's, including the one against Australia. With Pakistan's most potent T-20 weapon defused, it now seems extremely unlikely that the world cahmpions of T-20 will be able to put one across Australia before leaving those shores.

Winning the Break-Up

Have you heard of Ted's (of How I Met Your Mother fame) concept of winning a break up? Ted theorizes that in any break up, both individuals do what they can to portray the appearance that the break up was their choice, i.e. to win the break up (do watch this particular episode, its quite funny).

I would not have thought it, but the machinations of the Pakistan Cricket Board yesterday do lead me to believe that How I Met Your Mother has a significant fan base in the PCB as well. Yesterday, the Pakistan Cricket Board tried to win their break up with Mr. Modi's IPL by stating that they were revoking the NOC's of all Pakistani players - this after each franchisee individually and the IPL as a whole had made it clear that they were not interested in Pakistan at this time!!!

It would be interesting to see whether the PCB would continue to deny Pakistani players a NOC if the IPL did in fact want them to participate. Would the Pakistani cricketers continue to sing in harmony with the PCB if they could see millions of rupees (and fame) disappearing in the blink of an eye? Would the politics of this battle between two very unequal forces result in the Pakistani soldiers deserting the PCB army and going the Flintoff way? In my experience, principles and egos do often fall by the wayside in the hunt for money - what do you think?

The 4th hammering

I would not have thought it possible, but Pakistan seems to have found a way to lose by bigger and badder margins as the series has gone on. A 5-0 whitewash seems very likely and Pakistan's only hope of redemption on this entire tour will lie in the single T-20 game that they are scheduled to play.

Since enough has been said about Pakistan's ability to make the slightest impression in this one-day series, I will instead concentrate on one of the outstanding features of today's game - Ryan Harris's bowling. From what I saw today, he seems to be a faster, better and smarter version of Hilfenhaus, and bowled some absolutely superb Andersonesque outswingers to unsettle and destroy an increasingly vulnerable Pakistani top order. For those who did follow the previous edition of the IPL, you will remember a certain Ryan James Harris (or Rhyno as he is affectionately called) - the person who opened the bowling for the Deccan Chargers for a few matches. I have no idea what has changed in the meanwhile, but the 30 years old Ryan Harris that is now tormenting Pakistan seems a very different person from the 28-29 year old Ryan Harris that got mauled in the IPL.

Given the quality of his bowling over the last two matches, perhaps he too deserves a place in the Australian test line up and Siddle deserves a rest. Though I hate the Australian cricket team for the way they have dominated cricket, you have got to hand it to them for the rabbits that they pull out of their yellow hats all so often. And Nathan Hauritz take a bow for your batting today...

The Great Snub

Please read the transcript (here) of Andy Zaltzman’s podcast on the IPL auction and his description of the selection of ‘horses’ for the particular course that is the IPL.

Much ink has flowed in the Indian, Pakistani and international media over the non-selection of a single world champion Pakistani cricketer by any of the franchisees and as seems typical for a reaction on anything slightly controversial in cricket, the reactions range from passive (including in the Pakistani publication, the Dawn) to outright fanatical (pretty much everything else in the Pakistani media). Should Pakistan somehow manage to win a single one-day game (or god forbid, the T-20 match against Australia), it seems certain that journalists and bloggers across the world will have a lot more fire to breathe and venom to spew on Pakistan’s ability as a limited overs side, and I want to jump on to this bandwagon too!

Personally, I believe that justice has been done. The very unofficial embargo on the franchisees selecting Pakistani cricketers is somewhat like the West imposing economic sanctions on Iraq. It is a political snub, it is invariably backed by the government (despite what Mr. Modi and Mr. Krishna might say), it is very symbolic of the history of evolution where might is indeed right and it is occasioned by the aggressive intent of the other.

As far as cricket is concerned, while it would have been nice to see some of the Pakistani cricketers in the various line-ups, I for one cannot imagine anyone saying ‘but if only Afridi/Aamer/Gul was here’. When the IPL juggernaut begins to roll again, most of the audience outside Pakistan is going to forget this ‘snub’ and enjoy the cricket like they have over the past 2 seasons. Viewership may draw in Pakistan to begin with, but it is almost certain that as the season moves into its closing stages, all of the cricket addicts will come running back to the broadcasters for their shot of adrenalin fuelled excitement.

In so far as politics goes, there may have been a more elegant ways to extend this ‘snub’, but sometimes the brutal political lesson is more effective than the diplomatic sugar quoted one (after 50 years of trying diplomacy, I am certain that a lot of my countrymen would agree). Generally, I would say that politics and sports do not mix well, but in this particular instance, especially after the attacks on Mumbai and the Indian parliament, I am more than willing to make an exception. For those who disagree, let me ask you this – would you do business with your enemy (perceived or real) if at that very same time that person was trying his best to destabilize your daily existence??

So much for Predictions

I think the title says it all

Update on the first one dayer

As it happens, Afridi did have one of 'those days' and has powered (literally) Pakistan to 274.

With the pitch offering pace and bounce, Pakistan promises to be a handful. Prediction stays - narrow Pakistan win. Shahid Afridi man of the match.

The First One Dayer

Here's hoping that writing this post will go some way in breathing new life into this comatose blog, even in the absence of John, and hopefully with the all other contributors once again contributing their thoughts.

I woke up early this morning (which, given the cold in Delhi was a lot more difficult than it sounds!) to watch Pakistan yet again take on Australia - this time in a format where they actually have a chance to beat Australia.

As I write this piece, the game is interestingly poised, though Pakistan has somehow managed to start the slide that I have been waiting for since early this morning. Despite the early fireworks from Kamran Akmal and then Salman Butt, and lots of energy and intent from Umar Akmal (how good is he???), Younis Khan has single handedly managed to anchor this innings - and I mean that literally and not in a good way.

I am all for comebacks and I do think Younis is an extremely good bat (especially against India) who deserves his place in the side, but should Pakistan lose this game, he must be held singularly responsible for protecting his wicket rather than getting on with it. So far, he has cost Salman Butt, Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik their wickets and unless Afridi has one of 'those days', he has put Pakistan in a position where getting 270 will be an achievment rather than the certainty it was 20 overs go.

That said, Pakistan probably possesses the bowling firepower to defend 270 on this pitch, especially with Boom Boom and his ten overs of mesmerizing leg spin waiting in the wings. Add to this the pace of Aamer, the seam of Asif, the off spin of Ajmal and perhaps Malik, and you have the most well balanced bowling line up playing in Australia today.

My prediction - a nail biting Pakistan win (provided they can hold their catches), with Afridi claiming three.