Best laid plans of men and mice go awry. Beware the Ides of March. Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. It is not over till it is over. Favourites do not have the divine right to win. So it was for India at Nagpur on the Ides of March 2016. India began as…
Category: Cricket
BCCI revamp
Lodha committee submitted its report on 4/1/2016. The committee consisted of for CJI R. M. Lodha and former Justices Ashok Bhan and R. V. Raveendran. The committee made many recommendations. Most of them are good, some are not clear, and one regarding making betting legal is bad. Good to have former Test cricketers who retired…
Downfall Down Under
India has lost four ODIs consecutively against Australia. The margin of defeat in any match is not great but losing four ODIs consecutively is a fall. On 12/1/2016 Perth ODI was lost with four balls to spare. India 309/3. Rohit Sharma scored 171*. Australia 310 in 49.2 overs. On 15/1/2016 Brisbane ODI was lost with…
Ashes and DRS
England defeated Australia by 14 runs in Trent Bridge Test that concluded on 14/7/2013. The Test was marred by DRS controversy. Marais Erasmus was the third umpire. Two decisions were wrong. First one was not DRS but referred by field umpire Kumar Dharmasena when Ashton Agar was ruled not out. He was on 6. He…
Loss at Eden Garden
It is not right to build up any series as grudge series or revenge series. That is what some TV channels did about the Test series against England in India. India had lost 0-4 to England in England in 2011. There was talk of India winning 4-0 against England in India. Gautam Gambhir had said let them come to India.
The series began with Indian victory in Ahmedabad Test. India won by nine wickets but Mahendra Singh Dhoni was not happy about the pitch. He wanted a rank turner. At Wankhede Stadium he got that but lost the Test by 10 wickets. He wanted a rank turner at Eden Garden too despite losing Bombay Test. BCCI was ready to oblige him. Prabir Mukherjee, the curator at Eden Garden, did not oblige. He said the demand for rank turner was illegal, immoral and illogical. He wanted to go on leave. Jagmohan Dalmiya prevailed upon him to continue and Prabir Mukherjee prepared the pitch which gave equal chance to fast bowlers, spin bowlers and batsmen.
Turning track backfires
Mahendra Singh Dhoni grumbled too much. He grumbled after winning two Tests against New Zealand. He grumbled after winning Ahmedabad Test against England by nine wickets. For him the tracks were not good enough. He wanted tracks that turned from day one and toss should be out of equation. At Wankhede Stadium there was the…
T20 World Cup rules
There are people who say T20 World Cup rules were not fair, India won four out of their five matches but could not make it to semi-finals while West Indies who had two victories out five made it to semi-finals. They are wrong.
In the first round every group had three teams and two could go to the next round i.e., Super 8. Once the teams made it Super 8, victories in the first round did not count. In Super 8 India won two matches, lost one match, so also Australia and Pakistan. South Africa lost all three matches in Super 8. India, Pakistan and Australia had four points each. On the basis of net run rate Pakistan and Australia made it to semi-finals. India was in a favourable position as its match against South Africa was the last one in Super 8 and knew what to do to make it to semi-finals. India failed to achieve that. India’s loss to Australia was a huge one and that made a difference in net run rate.
India out of T20 World Cup
On 2/10/2012 India defeated South Africa by 1 run with 1 ball to spare. On an ordinary day there would have been joy and celebration. But this was not an ordinary day and there was sadness and loss of interest before the match was over.
Deccan Chargers for sale
There is the story of an emperor who wore just an underwear and was riding a horse. The people could see that but everybody said the emperor was clothed in a fine robe and were praising the qualities of the robe. Then one boy said “The emperor is naked.†After that everybody said the emperor is naked.
Similar is the story of IPL. There was lot of hype and hoopla about it. Many said it was a great brand. The franchisees were not making profit. Some of them thrived on thousands of crores of rupees they borrowed from public sector banks which they did not return. They went for corporate debt restructuring (CDR). That meant they got more time to pay. Debts were converted into shares at higher than market value.
Turning tracks
India won Test series against New Zealand 2-0. After winning the first Test at Hyderabad by an Innings and 115 runs Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the wicket was not turning enough. Spinners had got 18 wickets out of 20. R. Ashwin got 6/31 and 6/54, total 12/85. About Bangalore wicket he said it was like that of Napier. The curator said the wicket will be sporting one with equal chances to all. India won the Bangalore Test by five wickets.