Cricket Archives - Voice from the rooftop

Loss at Eden Garden

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

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.

T20 World Cup rules

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

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. Indiaâ€™s loss to Australia was a huge one and that made a difference in net run rate.

India out of T20 World Cup

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

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.

Turning tracks

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

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.

Unmukt Chand controversy

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

All students are equal. Students who are sportspersons are more equal. A student who is the captain of a cricket team that wins U-19 World Cup is the most equal.

That is the view of Ajay Maken, Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Shukla, Kirti Azad, Arnab Goswami and many others who live in a world that is worse than George Orwellâ€™s Animal Farm.

Valson Thampu, principal of St. Stephenâ€™s College, appeared on many channels on 30/8/2012. He faced hostile questioning on Times Now.

From chokers to champions

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

South Africa had abundance of talent before. It seems their losses were due to non-cricketing reasons. There was betting and match-fixing. When many people put money on South Africa winning South Africa lost. Bookies made money. People lost faith in South Africaâ€™s ability to win. They stopped betting on South Africaâ€™s wins. South Africa winning became profitable for bookies.

Rahul Dravid retires

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

On 9/3/2012 Rahun Dravid announced his retirement from international and domestic first class cricket. Anil Kumble and BCCI President N. Srinivasan were with him. In 164 Tests, he had 36 centuries, scored 13,288 runs with an average of 52.31, 210 catches and one wicket that is of Ridley Jacobs. In 344 ODIs he scored 10,889 runs with an average of 39.16, 12 centuries, 196 catches and four wickets including one of Saeed Anwar. His T20 match against England was his debut match and retirement match. He was known as the Wall. When he batted well the headline was the Wall stands tall.

Ricky Ponting Dropped

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Ricky Ponting was dropped from Australian ODI team on 20/2/2012. He was captain in the previous match which Australia had won by 110 runs against India. He had hoped to continue in ODI team. John Inverarity, chief selector, said Rick Ponting would not be considered for future ODIs. He said â€œRicky Ponting has been dropped from the squad due to lack of form. The team will not seem the same without him. But moving on from the omission of players who have been outstanding over a long period of time is the nature of elite sport.â€

Doubts about DRS

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

BCCI has consistently opposed DRS, or UDRS as it was originally known, since India under Anil Kumbleâ€™s captaincy lost a Test series in Sri Lanka. The decisions went against India. Other countries agreed on DRS. It was part of World Cup 2011.

Some decisions based on Hot Spot during Indiaâ€™s series in England in 2011 raised questions. India lost the Test series 0-4, five match ODI series 0-3 one match being a tie and another abandoned and the one T20 match. After that India did not have DRS in India and Australia.

India lose Test and series

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

On 15/1/2012 India lost Perth Test by an Innings and 37 runs and consequently the series 0-3. The Test was over within three days. India scored 161 in the first Innings. In the second Innings India fell from 171/6 to 171 all out. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was banned for one Test for slow over-rate. He lost 40% of his match fee. Other players lost 20% of their match fees.

Krishnamachari Srikant said it was collective failure. It was more a failure of batting, fielding and captaincy. The bowlers did well in Melbourne and Perth. They should have bowled many bouncers. In that way Australian batsmen would have scored less runs. With bouncers, if India had not won Sydney and Perth Tests they would not have lost by Innings either. Australian bowlers got many wickets by bowing bouncers.