Good Bye to a Bloody Mean Champion Cricketer !

A young friend of mine tweeted after tonight's match...
Australia meet West Indies... at the Airport !

That was funny and a lot of people are rejoicing the fall of a Champion.
Let Australia sulk. Stronger or weaker, they will come back.
But there was one man who went out tonight perhaps for the last time in a World Cup.

I never liked Ponting. His earliest claim to fame was on a juniors tour of India when he flayed all the junior Indian bowlers. Many of them never played senior Cricket. Then he made more news for pub brawls than for his on field exploits. Ever since he made his debut, I had a special dislike for him.

I disliked Ponting because...

He had the best team playing with him or under him through most of his career.
He blasted India in the 2003 World Cup Final and that scar can't heal. Not even after this win.
He had Shane Warne and Glen McGrath giving him wickets whenever he wanted.
He was the most prolific scorer in the new millennium and not Sachin.
He almost threatened to overtake Sachin at one time and break most of his records.
He had three World Cups in his kitty and two of them as as Captain.
But most importantly, he had never lost a World Cup match as a Captain.

I hated Ponting because...

He had transgressed the spirit of Cricket more often than anyone could care to remember.
But he somehow escaped with much lighter punishment than others, especially Asians.
He lead from the front all the unholy activity during the infamous Sydney Test in 2008.
Forget walking, he regularly contested Umpiring decisions and mostly escaped Scott free.
And most importantly for never walking but expecting opponents to 'walk' !

There can be a million reasons to dislike Ponting and hate Ponting.
But he was a Genius without a doubt. A flawed Genius if there is one.

For one who had not lost a single World Cup match and had overseen annihilation of all the 3 South Asian Teams in 3 successive World Cup Finals, Ponting went out against 3 South Asian Teams. He couldn't beat any one of them this time.

Sri Lanka were in a very good position before the rains intervened.
Pakistan gave Ponting the first taste of World Cup defeat in a dozen years.
And India knocked him and his team out of the World Cup tonight.

He was under pressure from all corners. For the LCD episode. For the Steve Smith episode. For not walking. For talking. And for being Ricky Ponting ! But what a way to go. He was out of form for longer than even Rahul Dravid. Boy, did he choose a match to strike form ? He couldn't have done anything more or better. He and his team just ran into a slightly better team on the day.

Ricky Ponting has tormented Indians for so long and so badly, it is a relief to see him walk away into sunset or to hell.

But before that, let us say gracefully...

He was such a bloody mean Champion Cricketer !

And he went out with his head held high !

Good bye Ponting !



SPun Doctor
Also blogs @ http://diehardcricketfans.org/category/contributed/govind-raj-shenoy/

Pricky Apologies and other World Cup Trivia, Part-3

After a lot of those Trivia, we have finally entered the Knockout stage of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. There was some Cricket, a lot of action, minnows, reverse swing, collapses, drama, choking and then Shoaib Akhtar. So here is a little ruminating on the action so far. 

Lost and Found [Theme] Team: A Gayle-less and KRoach-less West Indies 'Lost' to India and 'Found' an allegedly easier Quarterfinal match with Pakistan.

Moral of the story: Some teams still fear Australia !

A shitting Farewell: Steve Tikolo, arguably the Greatest African batsman outside South Africa was given a typical farewell by his team. They showed him how they have depended on him all these years and how he will be missed. He looked like 'Budhdha' and always had a saintly calm about him. His records never did justice to his talent.

Budhdha Smiling !

Astralialogers Day: An eminent Astrologer in India predicted an India - Australia Final. Well, he probably meant "A Final before Final" ! 5 people predicted 5 different things without a single winner. Ass-trology sucks big time.

Clutching at the last Strauss: England did a Houdini to enter the Quarterfinals with the distinction of being the team that beat teams above them in Test Rankings and lost to teams below them and then tied with the No. 1 ranked team. West Indies as usual bucked the trend.

PRicky Apologies: Australian Captain has 'apologized' in advance to no one in particular. He will give the reasons for his apology during the press conference after the India - Australia Quarterfinal. The honored recipient of his apology too will be declared on that day.

Birds of the same leather: Steven Smith and Munaf Patel have more than some things in common. Both are supposed to be bowlers, but have not completed their quota of 10 overs in living memory. Both are forgotten by their Captains when the white leather cherry has to be used for some effect. And both are in their respective teams with no specific roles.

Survival of the un-fittest: Munaf Patel also is the 'Greatest survivor'. He twice went for too many at death. A number 10 batsman hit Patel over the top facing his first ball in the world cup. He neither has a yorker nor a bouncer. Reverse swing is Latin. He is an opening bowler who seldom opens. Took a catch to avoid getting smashed in his face by the ball. Fitness at best can be compared to that of Ranatunga [No Idea how fit he is today]. And he continues to play for India !

MOM Player of the First Round: From being dropped for Raina, Yuvi has come a long way to rain runs and wickets. Though fitness still appears to be below par, Yuvi is throwing his weight around and in the right places. He has more MOMs than anyone else [Man Of the Match awards I mean] this time.

Most Exciting World Cup Debut: Kohli Viratified himself as a Class act with a century on debut. Devendra Bishoo has definitely impressed. Rampaul took a five for. But the most exciting Debutant is Tahir Imran. No explanations deemed necessary.

Most Under-rated Player: Umar Gul has bowled probably the best except for one match. He has swung the new ball and the old ball in almost all conditions. Take him out and Pakistan would struggle. But so far we have heard noise about Afridi, Sehwag, Sachin, Taylor, Roach, Malinga and even Ashwin.

One Man Army: Ever since the days of Kumble, India have remained a 'One Man Bowling Army'. Thanks to Ashwin, now they have two and a half bowlers in a 'One Man Army' that is Zaheer Khan.

Most Improved Player: Kakmal hasn't dropped anything since that fateful match against the Kiwis. That is an improvement unlikely to be improved upon.

Contenders, nay Pretenders: Bangladesh punched above their might to beat England. But their bowling was exposed by Sehwag and Kohli and batting by KRoach and Tsotsobe. They would do well to be realistic about their chances. One series win against a reluctant New Zealand doesn't make them contenders. They still remain what they are; Pretenders.

Giant Minnows of the Cup: Ireland stood tall throughout. They chased down 300 twice [Only team so far to do so]. Different people have stood up on different occasions. Stirling, O'Brien brothers, Dockrell, Porterfield, Cusack, Johnston and Wilson made it a memorable world cup. Hats off. They should break into Test league soon.

Fodder of all Collapses: India collapsed twice. Pakistan collapsed against New Zealand. England Collapsed against anyone they liked. Australia collapsed against Pakistan. New Zealand collapsed against Sri Lanka. Collapses were collapsing all over. But the fodder of all collapses was when South Africa collapsed against England chasing 172. They collapsed twice in the same innings !

Tell-Tail signs of the World Cup: Ravichandran Ashwin has scored more runs in one innings than all the runs scored by Bhajji, Zaheer, Nehra, Munaf and Chawla in all the matches put together. Indian tail appears to be ever ready to 'Curtail' !

Walk for the Heart: After watching the inevitable collapses following his fall, Tendulkar is a 'Heart-broken' man. Hence he 'walked' against the West Indies, because the Doctors say walking is good for the heart. Dr. Hayden should advise a certain Mr. Ponting to walk once in a while. He badly needs to walk, at least after the Umpire has ruled him out.

A-shock-ing Decision: There was Bucknor, there was Hair and there still is Bowden. But the most shockingly incompetent Umpire on the 'Elite' panel must be Ashock De Silva. It doesn't get any worse. We hope not to see any 'Silva' line in the cloud during knockouts.

Gesture to Cherish: Pakistan's continued support of KAkmal. Like it or not, once you are in a team, the team has to stand behind the player facing a rough patch. Dhoni would do well to learn a lesson regarding Sreesanth. Kakmal has already lost more matches for Pakistan than any player ever could manage in a lifetime.

This story again has grown like India's power play woes. So, let me curtail this here like Steyn did to Indian tail. Hope to be back with more Trivia. Cricket will never run out of Trivia like Murali with his tricks !

SPun Doctor

Kakmal, Super Moon and other World Cup Trivia, Part 2

If there is a Part-1, there has to be sequel. So I had to come with Part-2 to "Yuckmal and other World Cup Trivia". Who else could have inspired this post other than the Akmals ? So here we go again...

Please Read the post at "DieHard Cricket Fans"


SPun Doctor

Ponting is Right !

In spite of his great batting deeds, in spite of his 3 successive World Cup wins and in spite of his place in the pantheons of the 'All Time Greats' of Cricket; I have never really liked Ponting.

Well, almost all Indians have reasons not to like him. The caning suffered in the 2003 World Cup Final being just one of them !

Most of the times, I have scoffed at Ponting and his rantings. But not this time.
What he said is absolutely true.

Minnows have no place at the World Cup !

The ICC should seriously think in this direction and thankfully they already have if the reports are to be believed. But I am against having even 10 teams. There should be only 8 teams, just 8 and no more.

But isn't this injustice to the associate members ? This could sound so on face value, but it is not. There is a way out. This is how we go about it...

The Main Event should have only 8 teams as it was till 1987.

Each Team will play another team once and the Top 4 will qualify for the Semi-Finals.

The Final should be a best of 3 affair to test the endurance and the ability to bounce back.

Top 6 Teams qualify to play main event based on overall ODI rankings 12 months prior to the main event.

There should be a First round of qualifying tourney involving teams ranked 7 to 20 in the format that is being played now at this Cup.

Let this be held in different countries and the ICC should support the event. This tourney can also be called Plate Division World Cup or something like that.

Both the finalists will get to play the main event.

This will mean the minnows will get to play more matches between themselves and also get to play 2 - 3 teams from the Test playing group. The competition will certainly improve.

Fear of relegation can lead to an improvement in the Test Playing Nations Group too.

Imagine India, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa or even Australia being relegated to the qualifying tourney. That will hurt the egos and can inspire stiffer competition.

A Test playing nation missing out on main event is a possibility. When that happens, it will act as a wake up call to that team and an incentive to the one that pipped them.

What happened yesterday [20 February 2011] was just not Cricket.
It was massacre, slaughter, annihilation, decimation, humiliation and anything you like !
Let us not suffer more of those insufferably lopsided Sundays.
Who will watch them ? Just who will pay to watch Canada playing Kenya in India ?



S-Pun Doctor

Cold facts from the Warm-up game !

*

Some interesting and random sub-plots from the warm up game.

What looked like a cake walk turned into choke walk for the Aussies.

The match looked all but over at Australia 118 / 1 in the 22 over.

But as was quoted by Yogi Berra, "It ain't over until it is over !".

13 people played for India on Sunday the 13th February.

One bad-boy [Sreesanth] welcomed another bad boy [Ponting] in a manner that suited both.

Australia couldn't warm up enough in the cold wintry Bangalore evening and collapsed like Pakistan. The Pakistani Umpire must have felt at home.

Krejza continues to pick the wicket of Sehwag when he least looks like doing anything on field.

Raina and Yuvi continue to compete with each other and we still don't know who is behind.

Chawla has at least for the time being, proved me wrong and put Yuvi and Raina in serious trouble.

If pitches continue to behave this way throughout the Cup, it might be 2 + 2 + part-timers for India. Nehra and Sree will have to fill in the second seamer's slot.

Yusuf Pathan will retire with more sixes than fours, singles or twos at the end of his career.

It looked as if Johnson had started the walk back even before Bhajji bowled the ball. He was very close to the boundary line when Dhoni removed the bails.

Ponting's slog sweep was neither a slog nor a sweep. It almost looked like a swog sleep or whatever.

Michael Clarke makes a better Captain than a batsman if that is any consolation.

Virat Kohli is good. But he still isn't Dravid or Laxman. Neither in the slips nor with the clips [of the hips].

Munaf Patel did a huge favor to us. We knew he'd be cannon-fodder on Indian pitches. Thankfully he proved that well before the curtain-raiser.

Mitchell Johnson again bowled twice as many wides as all the Indian bowlers together.

Australia bowled more than 4 additional overs thanks to wides.

In fact not only Johnson but Hastings, Lee and Dussey out-wide-balled India.

And to think I was one of the very few Indians who didn't get to bowl today because Aussies folded up in 38 overs.

Ashwin and Nehra won the match for India. The 44 runs the No. 10 / 11 scored was the difference.

Australia's part-time spinners appear to be better than the main spinner.

India's lower order looks better than the middle order [which is still in South Africa].

And finally, a sensational scoop, breaking news and revelation all put together...

Sachin and Zaheer are India's secret weapons being hidden from the opponents.



S-Pun Doctor

5 Non-Cricketing Reasons for the Mohali Win !

India won by a millimeter, a test they could have won by miles. Did Australia fight tooth and nail ? Or did the Indian batsmen play shots that deserved tooth and nail extraction without local anesthesia ? We will leave it there !

As is our habit, we woke up to Crisis Man Laxman's brilliance and then returned quickly to debate on Sachin Tendulkar missing out on yet another hundred. I know many people would have been happier if Tendulkar were to get his century even if India had lost the match. We are Indians, Sachin comes first. Perhaps soon after Rajnikant !

But Sachin missed out and India won ! And we had a god-damned exciting match that would have killed many on either side of the border if the opponent were to be Pakistan.

Why did India win in spite of...
* Atrocious shots by Virendar Sehwag in both innings ?
* Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal at most inopportune moments in both innings ?
* Dravid's problem with leg-cutters ?
* Sanjay Hazare's magnanimity ?
* Super All-rounder Bhajji's failure to fire with the bat in both knocks ?
* Ishant Sharma's Dirty Dozen No-balls ?
* Dhoni's shoddy work behind and in front of the stumps ?

India deserved to win because they made lesser mistakes in spite of having Sehwag, Bhajji, Ishant and Dhoni on their side. Aussies were beaten by Medical Maladies and not Cricketing Dandies !

Here are the 'Actual Reasons'


1] Rheumatoid Arthritis: Brent Fraser Bowden's peculiar condition that mostly affects the small joints of hands and legs. When Johnson struck Ojha plumb in front of middle stump, 'Poor Billy' just couldn't move his hands in time to show Ojha the 'Crooked Finger'.

By the time he managed to lift his hand, the over-throw by Smith had reached the boundary. Bowden was s--t scared of Jrod going on the rampage again dissecting Billy's Late Out Decision !

2] Lumbago: With a Doctor for father, Laxman knows how to get injured conveniently. For second Test running, he did very little running and managed to keep India in the running till end. Don't be fooled by his 'Nice Guy' looks. He even manipulates the day five pitch. It stops misbehaving when Laxman's wrists start behaving !

3] Gigantism: With a height of nearly 8 feet Ishant Sharma intimidates everyone on ground and even in your drawing rooms. Any length becomes either too short or too long for him. In both knocks he proved 'Size Does Matter'. His second innings bravado was terminated by Gould rather than Hilfenhaus.

4] Delhi Belly: Aussies were obviously affected by Delhi Belly thanks to 'Butter Chicken' of Punjab. This meant they had their hands full of butter and pants full of potty. No wonder they dropped so many catches they would have held on in grade-3 Coma Down under.

5] Amnesia: The pollution in India affects the memory cells of Captain Ponting. He develops Amnesia time and again and he bowls Hussey and bats North. He forgot Philip Hughes existed on this planet.

Many Australians including Jrod want to assassinate Marcus North. I don't blame them. Australian batting goes down South with North ! Any amount of Paine afflicted by later order doesn't compensate for this middle - middle order dud; even the fluke wicket of Tendulkar !

So... Ponting continues the hunt for 'First Frontier' and we can say... Jai Ho !





S-Pun Doctor