Cric Talks

Afridi quitting Test cricket again!

Aditya Kane — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:52:53 +0000

Afridi is a bit of a wild card for Pakistan. He has lost of talent which is evident when he scores big runs in a hurry once in a few years but more or less he has always been a talented cricketer with very little to show in terms of performance. He has been fined a few times and had run ins with opposition players and was caught on tape in one of the most bizarre cases of ball tampering. Afridi bit the ball to tamper with it. Yes! He actually did bite it.

If Afridi has been inconsistent as a performer, it seems that his thinking or decision making is also inconsistent. He has been threatening to quit Test cricket for ages. He quit it finally and strange ended up being the T20 captain and also ODI captain. Then he came out of retirement form Test cricket and captained the Pakistan side in England against Australia.

Afridi is quite representative of the state that Pakistan cricket is in right now as it also has been changing its mind quite often. So the latest news in the cricket world is Afridi has quit Test cricket once again. I won’t be surprised if he comes back out of retirement in a year and then retires again.

What do you think? Is this the final time for Shahid Afridi? Do let me know through your comments.

Image Link: Flickr

Afridi quitting Test cricket again! is a post from: Cric Talks

What could be India’s squad in 2011 ICC World Cup?

Narendran.M — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:01:03 +0000

This year we had a tough cricket; even Indian team had hard luck in the ICC T20. There is nothing to be blamed with neither the selectors nor the commission. The Tri series leaves nothing to be described about our team young legs. The ICC WC 2011 is around the corner, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh going to host it. At this point of view, Indian team should concentrate on their game i.e. bowling, fielding & should consider few players to play their natural game.

Hopefully the lord of the venue, Sachin Tendulkar will be playing. The opening pair will be very strong such that Sachin & Shewag will start the innings. Even the top order batsman will be filled out with Gambir, Raina & Yuvraj.

The middle order will be taken care by our captain Dhoni. The lower middle order is the biggest question, no real guesses at all. The top lower order batsman will be Harbahjan. When it comes to seamer’s, Zaheer will be in the playing eleven. These eight players will be confirmed; only in case of any injuries there might be few changes.

The areas to be focused by our team will be specially bowling & fielding. There are really big hitters in the squad, so no problem with that. When it comes to bowling, the economy of Indian team bowler is almost above Five & half. If this continues then the runs we concede in one match by our bowlers will be surely above 280+. The target becomes tough, in case of early wickets of our batsman. We lost the game. Next is fielding, there was few many misfield by our young legs in the Tri-series. This should be avoided in the ICC WC.

Thus Players should be focused in fielding. When it comes to the playing 11, I left 3 players, in that one will surely be an all rounder, then the other two will be a seamer.

Which players can be filled in that gap??

My guess will be, Praveen Kumar, though he can swing the ball in both directions & other possibility will be either Sreesanth or R.P. Singh. The all rounder will be Yusuf. I personally feel that, playing eleven with 3 regular seamers will be a correct choice.

What are your views and thoughts on India’s chances and tactics for World Cup in 2011? Drop in your comments

What could be India’s squad in 2011 ICC World Cup? is a post from: Cric Talks

India’s Afghan challenge will bring back memories of Caribbean disaster in 2007 World Cup

Dhoni Video Hit the Internet with his Local Friend[NSFW]

Harsh Agrawal — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:21:50 +0000

Recently we discussed about Mahendra singh Dhoni, Captain cool to captain clueless and at the same time one video hit the you tube featuring Dhoni and his bunch of local friends. This video seems to be original as this has been recorded by his friend.

Few abusive words are part of this video and I will suggest watch this video only if you have nothing better to do.

Disclaimer: We take no responsibility for this video. This video has been uploaded by Youtube user Gyan1317.

Such video hitting the internet might be a bad thing for Dhoni, specially at this moment when people are criticizing Indian cricket team performance in T-20.

Dhoni Video Hit the Internet with his Local Friend[NSFW] is a post from: Cric Talks

What will a World cup win mean to each of the semi finalists?

Aditya Kane — Thu, 13 May 2010 03:44:20 +0000

Cricket is a game that always has romance behind it. Small teams beat big teams, reputations are lost and made and teams find themselves in the dumps and manage to rise up from the ashes to become champions. That what a cricket tournament is all about and this ICC T20 World Cup is the same. Here is a bit on the four semi finalists and their prospects and what might drive them to become champions.

Australia has won 4 world cup tournaments in the ODI format along with winning the Champions Trophy twice. They were ranked the no 1 in Test cricket for pretty much the last 15 years until recently when India and South Africa have started to outshine them. There is on silverware Australia has not won and that is the T20 World Cup trophy. So Australia would be desperate to win this time around when their side is probably the most complete and consistent running upto the semi finals.

England has been a surprise in this tournament. They always had talented players but always ended up losing tournaments. When it came to major ICC tournaments unlike Australia which has won almost everything England has a empty trophy cabinet. So this would be a fantastic chance for them to start winning something on the world stage.

Pakistan has had its cricket battered and injured. Sometimes by terrorists who fired bullets at visiting teams and at other times with their captain trying to bite the cricket ball. They are a group of rag tag team which play like champions one day and the next day play worse than a school team. Sometimes they play like both on the same day so they are unpredictable at best but they are defending champions and would love to show the world that they rule T20 cricket again.

Sri Lanka is a fine unit. If you think about their performances they featured in T20 World Cup final last year. They also were runners up in the ODI world cup in 2007. It is obviously talented and have probably the best T20 bowler in Malinga. They would love to win this World Cup and usher in a new era in Sri Lankan cricket like Ranatunga did way back in the late 90s when they won the World Cup.

So that finishes my views on what this T20 World Cup victory could mean to the four finalists. I have a feeling the Australia will end up winners in this edition. So who do you think will win the T20 World Cup?

13th May 2010 21.00 IST England vs Srilanka, Gros Islet – First Semi Final

14th May 2010 21.00 IST Australia vs Pakistan, Gros Islet – Second Semi Final

16th May 2010 21.00 IST Final – Georgetown

What will a World cup win mean to each of the semi finalists? is a post from: Cric Talks

Dhoni goes from being Captain Cool to Captain Clueless

Aditya Kane — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:52:39 +0000

India has had a rich history of Batsmen who had wrists of steel and footwork fancier than a gazelle. But they have always had a problem facing short balling and always had a issue with unearthing good fast bowlers. India has always suffered when fast bowlers gave the batting order some chin music but off late India has had the Dravids and Tendulkars to deal with the short stuff and manage.

But the T20 World Cup does not feature these old guys and we have new young breed of batsman who instead of playing a straight forward drive end up playing the scoop. The performance of our batsman must have left MS Dhoni popularly nicknamed as Captain Cool as Captain Clueless.

The curious case of being clueless

MS Dhoni won the toss on two occasions and decided that the pitch had a bit in it for the fast bowlers and so decided to bowl first to get early breakthrough. So far so good, but then India had two pacemen, one spinner and 5 part times spinners.

So India ended up opening the bowling with Harbhajan Singh a spinner and used up his three overs with the new ball on a seaming wicket. So what followed against Australia and West Indies was pretty similar that part time spinners went for sixes and fours all the time and the only respite was when the batsmen thought of taking it easy.

Strangely Indias big win against South Africa came while batting first and that was when Indian batsmen played out the new ball and hammered the older one.

India is pretty much out of the T20 World Cup and will have to beat Sri Lanka and hope that Australia beat West Indies. Too many ifs and buts and frankly not so good for us fans who like a straight forward victory march.

Dhoni is not to be entirely blamed for the bad show as some of the fancied names like Murali Vijay, Y Pathan and R Jadega have hardly made their presence felt.

When Ravindra Jadega bats at number 9 and bowls only 2 overs as a part timer then we are playing with 10 and a half players instead of 11. But then I did warn you that it is Captain Clueless who is picking the team.

Dhoni goes from being Captain Cool to Captain Clueless is a post from: Cric Talks

Sachin on Twitter: List of cricketers on Twitter

Aditya Kane — Thu, 06 May 2010 06:03:33 +0000

Sachin Tendulkar has finally arrived on Twitter quietly and surreptitiously. Most people might have thought initially that it was a fake but now with Twitter verifying the account along with over hundred thousand followers in 24 hours. Its official that Tendulkar is now on Twitter and now his die hard crazy fans will get to follow their idol’s life.

But Tendulkar is not the only cricketer on Twitter. There are quite a few. Some of them are fakes and some profiles are not being updated regularly so I will leave them out. But here is a list of all cricketers that you can find on Twitter.

Just click on any of the names and you will be taken to their Twitter profile page.

I am sure there are many others but I could not verify as I mentioned some accounts were too inactive to be really sure. Do follow these on field greats and also please do let me know if there are any other cricketers with Twitter profiles!

Sachin on Twitter: List of cricketers on Twitter is a post from: Cric Talks

Is Duckworth Lewis method unfair in T20 Cricket ?

Aditya Kane — Wed, 05 May 2010 04:08:01 +0000

The ICC T20 World Cup in the West Indies has unraveled two new players. No they do not play for any team and don’t bat or bowl or field for that matter. They are not even controversial umpires. They are mathematicians who came up with the Duckworth-Lewis method of calculating target scores in case of rain shortened matches.

Image Link: Rediff

Duckworth-Lewis method is a statistical method which involved calculating progressive scores based of past scores in One Day Internationals along with using wickets in hand as a resource to score more runs later on in the innings.

Take for instance the match between England vs West Indies. England scored a fantastic score of 191/5 in 20 overs. In the second innings it rained and West Indies had to scored 60 runs of 6 overs. So instead of scoring almost over 9.5 runs an over for over 20 overs it left West Indies to score 10 runs an over for only 6 overs.

I think West Indies can count themselves lucky. I think the problem here is that in a T20 match giving wickets a lot of importance as a resource could be counter-productive unlike in ODIs.

For instance even if a team has lost 6 wickets in 15 overs and has scored 120 runs they can still put up 160-170 runs with the last 4 wickets. The last 4 wickets can be more effective in 5 overs of a T20 innings than a 12 overs of a 50 over match.

So do you think T20 cricket need a different way to calculate scores and chuck the Duckworth-Lewis method atleast in this format of the game. Do let me know through your comments.

Is Duckworth Lewis method unfair in T20 Cricket ? is a post from: Cric Talks

It is back to catches and sixes at the T20 World Cup

Aditya Kane — Sat, 01 May 2010 00:27:01 +0000

I sat down to watch the first match in the T20 World Cup featuring Sri Lanka and New Zealand. I saw some boundaries and sixes being hit. There were a few catches too but the good news is that when someone dived and took a catch it was a ‘catch’ not a ‘Karbonn Kamaal Katch’ and neither were those big hits over the fences called ‘DLF Maximums’ they were simply called ‘Six’. IPL can truly be forgotten now, its time for International cricket all over again.

The T20 World Cup started off with a thrilling match. The venue was Georgetown, Guyana which is the only cricket ground on the South American continent. The match started of quite slowly reflecting the slow nature of the pitch in the middle. The Kiwis bowled a tight line but a brave and courageous innings by Mahela Jayawardene who scored 81 Runs of 51 balls. Sri Lanka ended up with a low but fighting total of 135/6.

Image credits: Cricinfo.com

New Zealand started of aggressively but were grounded and slowed down but continuously losing wickets. New Zealand finally needed 10 runs to win of the last over and Lasith Malinga was due to bowl. Nathan McCullum the brother of Brendon McCullum the super start T20 batsman decided to arrive to the part and scored of the runs with one ball to spare.

This way New Zealand pick up 2 points and will be expected to top the group as their next match is against Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka now play Zimbabwe and they have to win otherwise they are out of the World Cup. I doubt the Lankans will allow that to happen, but only two days ago Zimbabwe did beat Australia in a practice match.

After the New Zealand vs Sri Lanka match, West Indies squared off against Ireland. Ireland has great memories of winning against Pakistan during the World Cup in 2007. It also was played in the West Indies.

But any such hopes of Ireland were quite easily dashed of by a under strength West Indies who had Chris Gayle, Jerome Taylor and Suleiman Ben on the injured list. Dwayne Bravo led the West Indies and the Windies never really soared with the bat and managed only 138/9. But the West Indies bowling was far too good for Ireland and they were bowled out for a meager score of 68.

Darren Sammy from West Indies took 3 wickets an scored 30 runs and also took 4 catches. No prizes for guessing who was man of the match there.

Tomorrow India take of Afghanistan in St Lucia and Bangladesh take on Pakistan at the same venue.

It is back to catches and sixes at the T20 World Cup is a post from: Cric Talks

India’s Afghan challenge will bring back memories of Caribbean disaster in 2007 World Cup

Aditya Kane — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:45:58 +0000

Remember the ICC World Cup in 2007 in the West Indies. India was places in a easy group with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bermuda. India lost its opening games against the supposedly amateurish Bangladesh team and was knocked out of the World Cup within a week.

Tonight the T20 World Cup starts again in the West Indies and India start of their campaign against another supposedly amateurish team called Afghanistan. Yes, Afghanistan more known for war, bombs and violence has managed to put together a Cricket team and will take heart inspiration from Bangladesh’s upset win over India and try to emulate them.

Somethings that could worry India …

Afghanistan seems to have some decent fast bowlers who can trouble the batsman early on. Sometimes this works in a T20 format where some weak teams can cause havoc in 3-4 overs but not have the ability to match up for 50 over game.

India also has not made things easy they are not playing a single warm-up match. This could be a bit of a issue as the Indian team players were all playing in the IPL and are match fit, but they have not spent time together as a team in match situation. This they will try to figure out in their first game against Afghanistan.

So do you think India will be up for the Afghan challenge or will India get a little nervous? I am an optimist like any Indian cricket fan, so I think Afghanistan has no chance tomorrow against India.

India’s Afghan challenge will bring back memories of Caribbean disaster in 2007 World Cup is a post from: Cric Talks

5 Lessons to learn from IPL for Test matches being watched by empty stadiums

Aditya Kane — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:57:29 +0000

There are many who think IPL is far too commercial and I have even heard comments that it is more about money than sports. Those are debates which will keep on being discussed but I went to see an IPL match in Mumbai Stadium recently and I was pleasantly surprised at how good the experience is for someone spending a lot of money to view a game from the stands.

Last time I visited a Test match I had a pretty rough time and spectator comfort was something I was pretty sure the organizers had never even considered. Worse part was I felt like a fool who went to watch a Test match in a near empty stadium.

#1. Buying Tickets

For buying tickets to a Test match you have to go through a great deal of trouble. Most times you have to know someone inside the Cricket Association to get decent seats or take a chance and by tickets. Compare the IPL scenario. Almost a month before the tournament started they put out advertisements and took the help of the internet to make booking tickets extremely accessible.

#2. Food and Beverage facilities

Food and beverages were readily available during an IPL match whereas during Test matches it if very difficult to manage to get decent drinking water. With a ban on carrying water inside the stadium watching a Test match for 6 hours without even water being available at times can be too much for a spectator.

#3. Public Announcements and Interactions

There were many public announcement and a lot of interaction by the security guards and ushers which made things very good for people especially older people. IPL organizers had music being played between overs and also during the breaks. Ofcourse it is fancy to criticize the use of cheerleaders during IPL matches but fact not many cover that interaction of the organizers with the crowd is at a great level.

#4. Selective Venues

IPL matches are played at selective venues only which allows the stadiums to spruce up without worrying if they will host another match. This would be the same if a venue like Brabourne in Mumbai and Kolkatta’s Eden Gardens were assured of a Test match every year. This would allow the local state association to plan for better facilities.

#5. Importance

IPL matches are given importance by various board dignitaries and officials. But when have we see the top honchos of the Board watch a full Test match or watch atleast a full day. If the board give’s a Test Match importance it will automatically take care of the four points I have written above.

So do you agree with me or not? Do let me know by dropping in your comments.

5 Lessons to learn from IPL for Test matches being watched by empty stadiums is a post from: Cric Talks