Ramble about the quirks of cricket.

I just had to post this. I think it's very relevant and applicable to me.

I was taking in my usual dose of Psych related blog articles from my bookmarked PsyBlog, when I came across an entry about basking in reflected glory.

"Here in England we have a strange tradition called 'test cricket'. It's a ridiculous game that goes on for five days, stops for tea and bad light, has impenetrable rules, weird names for fielding positions like 'silly-mid-on' and 'short-backward-leg' and which frequently ends, after the aforementioned five days, with neither side victorious.

Every two years England and Australia compete for 'The Ashes' (a tiny urn which usually stays in England no matter who wins) in a series of five grudge-matches dating back to 1882. Those who follow cricket, and I count myself amongst these, take this biennial pantomime-in-white very seriously. Sometimes so seriously I can't bear to watch it. This year England won and I, as a proud Englishman, celebrated the vanquishing of the old enemy.

As usual I suddenly find myself telling others how 'we' won the cricket, and I'm not just telling other fans, but trying to weave it into conversations with people who have no interest in it whatsoever. This is odd because, as I know all too well, even most English people think cricket is dull and anachronistic."

Well, what can I say,except that I relate 100% with the writer. I am one of those who take their cricket very seriously. Yes cricket can be stubborn and old-fashioned and slow and time consuming and test cricket even more so, but maybe that's precisely why I adore the game so much. Why else would I travel to a different continent with my family to watch a 5-day game?

Maybe it's because I love the fact that this crazy game actually halts for TEA. That fielding positions are called nonsensical names like "silly point" and "square leg" and deliveries can be called "googlies" and "chinaman". That it can move populations of 1 billion and stir up patriotism to a fever pitch. That there is no roughing it out here, and that it's referred to as the gentleman's game. That it can last for five days and have no winner and yet leave spectators satisfied. That despite it's draggy nature, it can keep you at the edge of your seat until the last ball. That cheerleaders are considered a novelty and that there are debates about whether they should be part of the game or not. That technology is looked upon with suspicion and inspires debates amongst fans and officials alike. That commentators have so much time that they can celebrate each others' birthdays in the commentary box. That there are crazy rules, some of which are difficult to even get one's mind around.

There's all this and so much more to this game which I love, and I'm sure other cricket lovers will agree with me. And as much as I complain about some of the more archaic aspects of the game, I have to say it reflects so much history and tradition. And makes me adore it all the more.

And with that I shall go back to my match. :)

4th ODI

Watching the fourth ODI from home, and for once I'm actually watching from the first ball of the match.

If India can clinch this one, they'll have wrapped up the series, which would be good for us,because then they can rest their key players for the next match. I do hope Sehwag can captain us to a win. I can't tell you how much I miss Dhoni the captain. He's got this easy charm, this laidback feel and yet amazing focus and energy on the field. I still maintain that Dhoni is one of the best Indian captains that I've seen, and I've seen quite a few.

ETA: DADA's commentating as a special guest! :D Have missed him muchly. Quite awesome to hear him again, I used to be a huge Dada fan. :)

ETA II: WE WONNNN WOOHOOO. Virat Kohli with a brilliant maiden century and Gautam Gambhir with a magnificient 150*... they made a 224 run partnership which clinched it for us. It was wonderful to watch. Honestly I thought we'd lost it when we lost Sachin and Sehwag with only 23 on the board. But these two really stood up and took charge. And to think Kohli only played because Yuvi was injured! Also, Gambhir requested to share the MoM award with Kohli, which was a very nice gesture and it really showed the kind of bonding this team has. They play for one another and revel in one another's victories. I love it. Put a huge smile on my face :)

Rock on India.

The Boys Clinch A High-scoring Thriller

India WONNNNNNNN

I'm so happy! It was such a thriller of a match, and if I felt that way simply following the score on cricinfo, I can't imagine how awesome it would have been to actually watch the match. PITY. But still. 414 runs by India and it still came down to the last BALL of SL's chase to determine the winner. But I'm so happy our boys held their nerve to clinch it! What a match it must have been! Man.

On the other hand, what kind of chappati flat pitches are they making?? 414 by one team and 411 by the other? Bowlers' economies at 8+? What is the game coming to? My favourite games are when sides defend totals under 300, and it comes down to the last over, last ball. That is a real competition between bat and ball. 400+ runs is just bat all the way.

But then again, nowadays, 200+ is not enough even in T20s -___-
It's a shame I tell you.

But for now, I'm a happy bunny with this victory. And what with India topping the test table... the world is good. :)

ETA: And just as I finish posting, Cricinfo says the same thing!

"India are thrilled, Sri Lanka are gutted. Forget that there was no contest between the bat and the ball but for the last 10 overs, these two teams fought hard. One hundred and four boundaries hit, 825 runs scored, and only three runs separate them. Spare a thought for Dilshan, Sanga and Tharanga, who - under the pressure of a huge chase - played such magnificent knocks. Celebrate the innings from Sehwag, Tendulkar and Dhoni, the spin bowling from Harbhajan, and the death bowling from Zaheer and Nehra. But also remember that this was a substandard international pitch and a small ground."

ETA again: "Sehwag: "Not at all. I was actually supporting Sri Lanka. My superstition is that whenever I support India, they lose. So I was supporting Sri Lanka." Sparing a thought for Dilshan and Sangakkara, I say Hail Sehwag and okay bye."

LOOOOL.

Commentary

Jadeja to Dilshan, SIX, Ho ho ho, bye bye ball, Dilshan charges down, makes room too, takes this from outside leg and absolutely launches it out of the ground, straight down the ground.

I love the cricinfo commentators.

Wag Woes

Generally my cricket watching ends up being something like this--
I'm sitting at the dining table doing my work, and the TV is running softly in the background. Whenever the commentators or crowds raise their voices, I look up to see what happened.

Well, I've never looked up so many times in such a short period before. Someone, if you know, please tell me what Sehwag is trying to do with his batting. Dropped off a no-ball, dropped again in the following over and then almost dropped again in the over after that.

Seriously?

Champions Trophy India-Pak

Whoa India. Seriously.

Letting Pakistan score 302 was NOT a good idea. Our bowling's our weak link for sure, but is the pitch acting up? Gotta wait for India to bat to see. But if you ask me, I think we're goners :S

Losing to Pak will deeply dent our chances of getting to the next round of the tournament. Sighhh India. Why must you always keep us at the edge of our seats?

Ashes.

England takes the ASHES :D

Well I really can't say I followed closely, because I've been over my head busy, but congratulations to them!

No offence to my Aussie-loving friends, but I've always enjoyed watching Australia face defeat. Somehow. :P

India-Windies 2nd ODI

I am currently a happy bunny watching RP Singh hang on to his wicket like a champion. He's hung on for 23 overs, accompanying Dhoni. 70+ run partnership. A face-saving patch of play really. India were some 80 odd runs for 8 wickets. And now they're 163 for 8. Tell me which RP fan wouldn't be happy.
:)

AND RP HITS A SIXXXXXXXX :D :D :D

My champion's come to party.

DC vs DD Showdown Round II

DECCAN OH DECCAN
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE
HOW WILL YOU EVER CHASE
173 RUNS?

A win, and how.

And along with the woe of a Rameez Raja return comes a welcome piece of happy news- a Chargers win (finally!).

Considering our form in the last three games, I thought there was no way we'd be able to take on Mumbai (what with those two legendary- so much so, they're nearly ancient- players at the top of the Mumbai batting line up, all credit to them). But the Chargers have, happily, proved me wrong and I have no shame in admitting that!
RP was wonderful, taking the wickets of aforementioned legends in two consecutive balls (the one that castled The Little Master himself was an absolute peach, really) in his first over- giving us the first peek at a possible victory. But then came JP Duminy who at one point, looked all cushiony comfy and along with Dwayne Bravo (tell me again, why he isn't in England playing for the Windies?), set to steer the Mumbai Indians home.

Luckily for us, there were contributions from everybody- Ryan Harris with two outstanding catches in the field, good close in fielding from Gibbs saving singles and building pressure, two surprise wickets from Suman- but the masterstroke was Gilchrist handing the ball to Rohit Sharma (and not VENU, as he's done in a few crucial matches, and at crucial moments nonetheless, although I must admit that Venu was good with the bat today).

Just a while earlier, Rohit, trying for a gravity-defying catch, fell flat on his face-literally- and hit his nose hard on the ground. He looked like he might have to go off the field, but that is one tough dude. He shook his head a few times, looked a little zoned out for an over or so, but was fine after that. He came on to bowl and my oh my, what an evening he had. Four wickets at a crucial time with a hattrick, no less! Amazing fella. I was laughing away- ROHIT SHARMA with a hattrick? He was barely even recognized as an international level part-timer! Brilliant stuff.

And the way Gilly was shouting and clapping behind the stumps! Enthusiastic as any of those young wicketkeepers in the IPL- and he's 37! I love it when the senior players show so much spirit and love for the game. It's great to watch. Just look at Jayasuriya or Murali or Hayden for more examples! Or even Kumble! The way he dives around in the field, anyone could be forgiven for thinking he's not a day older than 25.

Great team effort and RP's back with the purple cap! Now if only there was some way to prevent that Abdulla dude from getting more than 1 wicket tomorrow and trying to claim back the cap.

Commentary Woes.

All this while in the IPL, certain commentators have had me scrambling for the mute button on the remote control. But none have gotten to me quite as much as a bouncily enthusiastic Rameez Raja did in his first five minutes of screen time. He seemed to be trying to make up for missing the first half of the tournament (oh thank heavens we were spared for 2.5 weeks), provoking in me a strong urge to stuff my fingers in my ears and hum loudly until he was done talking. The mute button just didn't seem dramatic enough.

Poor Show

DECCAN CHARGERS WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!!!!!!

Seriously that was the most amazingly crappy match I have EVER watched. They completely utterly GAVE. IT. AWAY. Why do I end up supporting teams who are so amazingly inconsistent! Deccan COME ON. You were four off four, and now you've lost two.

You have to pick up, come together as a team and decide on a few things. One- whether Venugopal Rao deserves his place in the team. Secondly, how you can bolster the top order. Besides Gibbs and Gilchrist, who are our big hitters? Maybe Rohit Sharma should come in one down? In which case, how can we beef up the middle order? Dwayne Smith is a little inconsistent, sometimes he goes big guns and sometimes he doesn't. Lastly, how can we bowl max yorkers in the death overs. THAT really is what helped Rajasthan. They bowled 5/6 yorkers every over in the last two-three overs. We couldn't get them away at all. That's what needs to be done. You can't be bowling short balls every ball in the death. Everyone's going to slog you. You have to bowl a few yorkers.

We play Chennai next, and we need to win against them again. They'll be coming back with a sort of vengeance. And it won't be fun to watch, I can assure you. Please Deccan, don't raise my hopes and then dash them against the wall. I'd back you no matter what, but not all fans are going to be so patient.

RCB finds a winning streak.

Just witnessed an absolute ripper of a match.

Kings XI Punjab, DEFEATED by Royal Challengers Bangalore, would you believe it? Have to have seen it to believe it, really. But it was brilliant, purely for the fact that Punjab was in the driver's seat right until the 18th over. Then Kumble bowled an amazing 19th over, giving just 4 runs and taking a wicket, when 17 runs were needed to win. And then along came Praveen Kumar, who claimed two wickets in the final over and restricted the runs to clinch the match for Bangalore.
The best part really, was that Yuvraj... took a hattrick and scored a half century, but managed to SOMEHOW, end up on the losing side. He got the man of the match award, deservedly. But it was still pretty amazing. Virat Kohli fielded, in the commentators' words, "like a demon". He took a ton of catches, seemed to be everywhere on the field. Brilliant stuff.

I love close matches between teams that I'm not really supporting lol. Because it's not that nerve wrecking. When it's Deccan or Chennai, I'd prefer that the team I'm backing convincingly trash the opposition. :P Either way, two good matches today. :) Mumbai and Bangalore winning. Deccan Rajasthan tomorrow and I'm going to be chewing my nails off for that one I bet.

In some trouble again

Deccan, you can't play that way. Don't do this to me favvies...

[edit @ 21 44]

Deccan's first loss. Heartbreaking. But the important thing is for them to stick together through this and come back to win the rest of their matches, and definitely their next match against Delhi. Because they are honestly a better team than the Daredevils. They just played badly today. Let's see how this goes.

[/edit]

DC vs MI

Don't do this to me Deccan...

[edit @ 00 47]

As the Chennai vs Kolkata match is in high danger of being washed out, I shall rejoice first about the wonderful Deccan victory earlier. :)

Well I couldn't be happier at this point of time, because we've played 3 and won 3. RP has been bowling wonderfully, getting a couple of wickets every time and continues to hold the purple cap (if they don't give him a national team recall after this, I really don't know what to say). Pragyan Ojha is the find of the tournie so far, he's been spinning the ball like a dream. Gilly is still in brilliant nick, despite having been out of the international scene for a year. Gibbs is scoring well, Rohit is good and our fielding has picked up tremendously from last year's (despite a couple of forgettable instances from Harmeet Singh in today's match). Not to forgot Fidel Edwards (or Castro, as Gilly calls him) who's been brilliant at the death.

As for today's match, I thought it was gone the moment we scored 168. It was just too little to win the match, on a good batting pitch! And the way the Mumbai Indians started, getting 84 runs in the first 10 overs, I thought we were goners. And then Pragyan Ojha turned up and claimed three wickets and he was rightfully given the man of the match award for it :D Because that turned the game in our favour. I really do hope they continue like this. It's a dream start for them, but you can argue that they haven't really played the strongest teams yet. Like Chennai and Delhi and Punjab and Rajasthan. Winning the next four matches will be the challenge. And if we can win even three out of the next four, I think we can safely consider ourselves pretty much the best damn team around.

I want the Deccan fan jersey! It's awesome, with a huge, charging bull in front.

CSK vs DD

Disappointing match! Chennai shouldn't have lost that one...
But AB De Villiers was amazing- 105 off 54 balls. Truly remarkable.

Oh well, these things happen I suppose.
Deccan's still going good, so I'm not too upset :D

Favourites.

What a brilliant match tonight between the DC and the RCB. 184 runs scored by the DC which was amazing to watch, because like I've always said, they've got amazing potential but didn't live up to it in the last season. And then RCB came out and managed to pull together 160 in the 20 overs. They lost early wickets and slowed down, which really made the difference, because had they managed to hit out in the first 6 overs, as the DC did, they would have won the match. It was a belter of a pitch, really. To top it all off, Jammy got the Orange Cap (highest run getter in the tournie thus far) and RP got the Purple Cap (highest wicket taker in the tournie so far). My two favourite players of all time and the caps are in my two favourite colours! This is all going rather well so far I must say ;)

And Jammy, he is in the finest form I've seen for a long time. And that too, in T20?? I'm not complaining, it's always a pleasure to watch him hit the ball out of the park, because he'll always do it with a proper cricketing shot. None of those ugly slogs for him. But as I watched him, how I wished he was playing for the Deccan Chargers or the SuperKings instead of Royal Challengers! Dravid is the only reason I have even the vaguest attachment to the Bangalore side, and if he were to play for my top two teams instead, I wouldn't turn to give Bangalore another glance. Which is a rather frivolous thing to say, I realise, but isn't that what makes this whole tournament fun- taking sides and rooting for a particular team or player?

The funny thing about the IPL is it creates a lot of cognitive dissonance (let me revise some social psychology while I'm at this whole blogging thing). You know you're rooting for this team (that's totally awesome in your mind) and you have all your reasons down pat to root for them. And then along comes an opposition which just happens to contain one of your favourite cricket players of all time. All of a sudden you find yourself feeling SORRY for the opposition team when a wicket falls because they show your favourite player's face on camera and he's looking like the sky just caved in on him. And then you wonder, hang on... why am I feeling sorry for the opposition?! I mean it's not even like your favourite was the one who got out. And then you have to go and create all these theories for yourself to feel that you are cognitively consistent :P

It just messes with your head, you know?

But I guess it's all in good fun, so I'm just going to go with the flow. Can't wait for the exams to get over so that I can watch the matches without feeling guilty all the time.

Oh oh, I forgot to add. Harsha Bhogle was commentating at the Durban matches. Wonderful to hear him again :)))

Hope the rain stays away folks!

A string of matches

Wow, the IPL has far too many matches and they're all far too short to analyse them during the match. :P Which explains why I have not been updating.

Anyway, from the first day then:

Match 1: CSK vs MI
MI won by 19 runs.

Match 2: RR vs RCB
RCB won by 74 runs.

Match 3: DD vs KXIP
DD won by 10 wickets.

Match 4: DC vs KKR
DC won by 8 wickets.

Match 5: CSK vs RCB
CSK won by 92 runs.

Overall? It's been a pretty good three days. Deccan Chargers played like the team they're supposed to be at long last and I couldn't have been happier. RP Singh took 4 wickets and was declared Man of the Match, could I ask for more? :)
The Super Kings finally opened their winning account with that defeat of the Royal Challengers, and it was a pretty emphatic defeat as well. But somehow, I felt happier with the DC's win. Well, it's telling me where my loyalties would lie in a DC vs CSK match I suppose.

It's still too early to judge which team is better than which or why a team loses, but all that will solidify as the season progresses and hopefully I'll be here, faithfully documenting it.
In the meantime, give this article about the infamous cheerleaders a read. I personally agree wholeheartedly with it, including the last sentence.

http://content.cricinfo.com/iplpage2/content/story/400742.html

Match 1: CSK vs. MI

After all the anticipation, it's almost time. 14 more minutes to the start of IPL's second season.

Chennai has won the toss and will bowl. It's been drizzling, that's terrible news really. I hope the rain stays away for the rest of the day.

I will probably update during the plentiful breaks we will have (7.5 mins after 10 overs urgh).

[edit @ 20 31]

Oops, the match and everything was so exciting, I forgot to update at halfway through the innings.

Anyway, the IPL is really in full swing, complete with scantily clad cheerleaders and all.

The highlight of the first innings? The big black grim-like dog which ran onto the field at 6.1 overs and nothing anyone did would get it out. :P It was adorable, to say the least, wagging its tail and looking around and running in circles around the players who looked bemused for the first coupla minutes before getting irritated. Can't say I blame them really, because disrupting play for too long disrupts their rhythm. The spectators had the laugh of their lives though :) as did we television audiences at home. To watch fielding coaches, security officers and groundsmen diving around the ground in vain (even those in shirts and trousers LOL) while the dog evaded all means of capture was hilariously entertaining, even though it was a waste of playing time. Some of them even tried giving it sandwiches and what not, which it happily lapped up and then continued to run around the field. Smart dog! Manpreet Gony tried to tempt it with the cricket ball, but it didn't seem too enticed by that.
Really funny though, how everyone kept a respectful distance from the dog because everyone was afraid of getting bitten!

Other than that, the bowling was quite disciplined, very few extras! But Mumbai Indians were good, they got to 166. I wonder is Chennai will be able to match up. Tendulkar was brilliant, he carried his bat through, scoring 59. Here comes the second innings. Toodle oo!

[/edit]

[edit @ 22 55]

CHENNAI LOST :( purely due to lousy batting. Too many wickets. Nobody kept their head, not even Dhoni. It's ok it's just the first match!
Time for match 2 now!

[/edit]

The Commercialisation of Cricket

Oh this is such total rubbish. Whatever good the IPL is doing for cricket is going to be reversed by unbelievably stupid things like this.
http://content.cricinfo.com/ipl2009/content/current/story/399750.html
and
http://content.cricinfo.com/ipl2009/content/current/story/399973.html

7.5 mins break after 10 overs of each innings for commercials?? COME ON. Give me a break. Are we trying to draw in audiences or chase away existing ones? I don't like how commercial this is becoming.

But who am I to talk. We'll see how it goes. Hohum. I'll try to update closely about the IPL. I will be at home watching after all :)

A short update after very long

It was awesome to watch the India team making so much noise on the field just to unsettle the NZ batsmen. With every ball bowled, they were shouting, hooting and whatever else. And then they'd all laugh. It must have been so annoying to the NZ batsmen and fans, but to us Indian fans it was pretty endearing to watch the team enjoying their game and one another's company. :)

Terror strikes sport.

Impossible. Shameful. Horrible.

The Sri Lankan cricketers who were playing in Pakistan have been attacked by terrorists. There's a big hooha everywhere about the end of Pakistan cricket. Well, that is certain- no team will play there now. Because none are safe anymore.

Wake up. It's just a SPORT. It's for the love and enjoyment of everyone. You don't KILL for sports. Cricket has always been a sport that builds bridges. It has been helping to mend ties between India and Pakistan for the last five years or so. And now, this.

Luckily none of the players were killed, they just had shrapnel injuries. But several policemen and civillians died. Well understandably the players are being airlifted out of Pakistan right now.

To say that this is the end of cricket in Pakistan is one thing... but this has come at a time when the country itself is in strife. The question is... could this mark the beginning of the end of Pakistan?

Terrible Starts.

I'm watching the 2nd India-NZ T20 and SERIOUSLY, 36 for 2 India???

Hello, what in the world is wrong with these people. Can't face up to the conditions in NZ?
Really, it's so stupid. So very stupid. How did we become T20 champions hmm? And if we play like this, we'll lose that title this year.

They don't need to hit the ball that hard. I know they only have twenty overs, but come on, you still need to keep your head and not just throw the bat around. And don't try to hit the WIDE balls COME ON.

Doomed. Unless a miracle comes along.

[edit @ 15 55]

Ok India, this is utter rubbish. Irfan can't seem to bowl at all, and yet we can't stop picking him to play all the matches. Blah blah.

[/edit]

[edit @ 18 17 on 28/02/09]

Ok so I take that back, Irfan can bowl. Sometimes. BUT INDIA STILL LOST. Rubbish batting. All of them threw their wickets away. Such a shame.

[/edit]

Double Blow

India lost the 5th ODI and NZ lost the 3rd.

So today was a day of losses for the teams I was supporting. Just one of those days I guess- but India still comprehensively won the series 4-1 so I can't really complain.

Today our batting collapsed in a rather impressive impersonation of the SL batting all through this series (save for today's match). Thank goodness SL didn't decide to play like this before today's match or we may not have won the series so convincingly (or maybe we wouldn't have won at all). In any case, this series is over. Now I'm hoping NZ will just win that one more match and take the series from Australia.

Rather tired, so I shan't write much more. But before I leave- new layout! I quite like the colour scheme and the simplicity yet quirkiness of it.

4th ODI

More cricket, more fun. India going at a run a ball. Almost.

But I'll miss most of the match. Sigh.

Joyous day

ASDKJFG 224-2, Yuvi and Sehwag 200 run partnership in 150 balls, Yuvi on a 107... and still another 20 overs to go I can't be happier :D :D :D

Also, Aus lost to NZ in that first match despite the umpiring decisions that went against NZ.
Ahhh, contentment.

Insanity

Australia 55-5 against New Zealand ZOMG???!?! :O :O :O

2-0 now!

VICTORY. At long last.

This game was highly interesting, because it seemed that not only were the umpires against us, but so were the STUMPS. Twice, TWICE, the bails didn't fall when the ball hit the stumps pretty hard. I don't know what was up with that, but it was amusing how Dhoni used all his milk shakti to whack the stumps when he run out the last batsman (no doubts there about whether the bails would fall or not) :P.

Well, we really should have gotten about 300 runs, because Yuvi and Sachin were given out wrongly. But still, I'm proud of the way TeamIndia managed to defend a total that I felt was about 20-30 runs short.

So we're on a roll, 7 matches unbeaten. Overconfidence will be the stumbling block, so India has to tread very carefully. And we have to make sure we don't peak too early, because the T20 World Cup is coming up in June and the ODI World Cup is in two years. Burnout is a huge concern- think about Dhoni. While a string of losses will definitely stretch a captain to his limits, the heady intoxication of victory can sometimes stretch a captain too- especially if there's one sudden loss or one sudden controversy. Plus, Dhoni will now be expected to play every match (considering how lucky he's proving for India) and if he takes a break, there'll be a big hullabaloo (e.g.: the time when he opted to sit out of the test series against SL). I know Dhoni is metaphorically the superman of Indian cricket, but even superman gets disillusioned every now and then.

I don't know how the BCCI is going to handle this, but they had better work out some way pronto, because the amount of cricket being played now is completely crazy.

Otherwise, I'm particularly pleased that India won, even though it was a close fight and a tense finish. But that's how matches should be right? What's the fun if every match is a walkover :P

Yay TeamIndia :))

Disaster pending

83-3 DOOMED.

Sehwag, honestly, what can I say. He was playing like a dream come true and he gets himself run out in the most ridiculous fashion, going for the 3rd run, where there really wasn't one. It's just so stupid. How badly did he underestimate the Sri Lankans to think that they wouldn't be able to get the throw back in time?

And they were 83 runs in 12 overs come on! The third run was not even necessary, they have so many more overs to go! Stupid.

And Sachin was given out wrongly again! Totally utterly ridiculous. Now Yuvraj and Raina.

[edit @19 27 hrs]

The umpiring is RUBBISH. Gamini Silva gave Yuvraj out LBW when there was the BIGGEST nick on it. Seriously, how are they going to make up for it now? TWO wrong decisions, and for Sachin, the second time in the series. 183-5 now.
This is turning out to be a farce.

[/edit]

[edit2 @ 23 47 hrs]

Come on India, get more wickets... with just 3 wickets down, SL can still win this. And Jayawardane seems to have suddenly found his form. Talk about inopportune moments.

[/edit2]

India-SL continues

Second match going to start.

Sehwag replaces Rohit Sharma [:( and :)] and Praveen Kumar replaces Munaf (hopefully this pays off).

Apparently India is on a mission to be No. 1 in the rankings. It's going to be a tough sort of mission... because frankly Australia might just be going through a bad patch. Plus, they're playing NZ next, which means that they have plenty of chance to win the series and reclaim the No. 1 position which SA now occupies. And India has to win every match for an extended period of time to even be in the reckoning for No. 1. Can they do it? Looking at the current form of the Indian team, it seems possible. But form is such a fleeting thing. A couple of bad matches and form evaporates- because so much of it is based on confidence. Two bad matches can test a team's mettle and their captain's abilities and kill their confidence. It's a fragile mission then, the one that India is adopting.

sheeshe ke khwaab leke
raaton mein chal raha hoon
takra na jaaoon kahin

I don't quote lyrics on my cricket blog usually, but this happens to be very apt.

Let's see how the 2nd match goes.

Finally.

Comment on one Cricinfo article about Jayawardane's current form:

"I think people should just shut up and stand with Mahela when hes going through a bad time. After all, it is under him that Sri Lanka has been very successful. Sri Lanka hasn't lost any major series so far. And getting beaten by a team like India is nothing to be ashamed of. Remember they brought the high riding Ausies down to their knees."

:D :D :D This is precisely the kind of sentiment I've waited 10 years to see.

Please live up to it, India.

1-0 to India

13-1 India uh oh...

And almost 19-2. Gauti got a major life, though I must say there was plenty of doubt (Arun Lal claims otherwise, but who listens to him? :P)

[edit at 8pm]

When Dhoni on drives in one powerful bottom-hand stroke... oh sweet adrenalin rush :)

There are few better feelings in the world than watching TeamIndia march to victory. Especially against good opposition. This is going to be an interesting series :)

India-SL Again!

I am absolutely thrilled, because for once, I am watching India-SL live online in hall and I have time between lessons to comment a little bit on it :)

So what's happening now? Well Munaf's getting smashed by Jayasuriya (unsurprisingly- they really should have picked someone else like Irfan or maybe even RP WHY IS HE NOT IN THE SQUAD?) because Munaf is a tad inconsistent and his fielding leaves much to be desired. Of course, he may yet prove me wrong, and I will be happy to admit it if he does, because at the end of the day, what I desire most is India's victory.

It's odd how Yusof Pathan seems to have made it into the squad ahead of Irfan Pathan. Ok perhaps they wanted an extra spinner for this game, but they already have Ojha as the specialist spinner and Yuvraj bowls wonderful part-time spin. We'll see how that decision turns out, because after all, Yusof is also a good batsman (not to say that Irfan isn't).

Ok the live stream that I'm watching has really infuriating background music (now it's playing Himesh Reshammiya yikes) and I can't hear the commentary properly because of that. Sigh. I guess you can't ask for much when you're watching free streams online. Beggars can't be choosers :P

Zaks is brilliant as usual :) In his fourth over, and he's barely given away five runs. Let's see how this match goes (Rohit Sharma is playing! I like.)