Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The Four who brought us Four Nil


The memories are still raw. India had been handed their second consecutive drubbing on overseas tours, and while the disastrous England tour could be blamed on the pitches and unfortunately timed injuries, it was much harder to find excuses for the thrashing down under. In the end, the 2011/12 Indian tour of Australia ensured the exits of two stalwarts and left a bad taste in the mouths of Indian fans.
When February 2013 came, there was still a bit of trepidation among Indian fans as the Australian team arrived for the return series. Harbhajan Singh proclaimed, to much derision, that India would win the series 4-0. At that point, scarred by a home series loss to England, most fans would have taken even a 1-0 win. One month later, Bhajji’s words have come true; and the only object of derision is the Australian team, who have unraveled spectacularly in the last few weeks.
Home series wins are nothing new for the Indian team; but in the context of performances over the past two years, and given the influx of inexperienced players in the squad, the 4-0 battering of the Australian team has come as balm to many fans who have weathered some horrible months recently. While there has been talk of ‘transition’ for a while now, this series has truly been the ‘turning point’ for the team, as they learned to win without major contributions from Sehwag and Harbhajan, and in the absence of Gambhir and Zaheer. The likes of Sehwag, Harbhajan and Zaheer might have played their last Tests, and another legend from Mumbai may be on his way out shortly. In fact, this series was won by four youngsters, who entered this series with contrasting reputations and differing routes to the team, but have now firmly entrenched themselves as the foundation around which the Indian team can chart new paths and create a new blueprint for success.

Monday, March 25, 2013

The Aussie Annihilation: A Lazy Analysis !

Returning to "DHCF Blog" after the longest hiatus of almost half an year. It wasn't as if I was too occupied or had lost interest. It was just that I was lazy to compile a blog-post and was satisfied with short comments on the Social Media. Here I am just compiling some of them together; my take on the Annihilation of Aussies !

Chennai:

India's Opening pair reminds me so much of "Sholay". We have a Viru and a Vi-Jay and then there is a Coin Toss Dhoni NEVER wins !

Exasperated with the Aussie tail bothering our bowlers, Bhajji has declared, "India should ban wickets 8 / 9 / 10 or take them at the beginning of the innings !"

The Chennai pitch where India scored 572 and their last 3 wickets added 200 in less than 50 overs is a bonafide dodgy subcontinental minefield of a track not suitable for Test Cricket !

Question: What did Nathan tell Sachin Tendulkar that upset his rhythm before his fall ?
Answer: Saaraa shehar humen Lyon ke naam se jaanta hai !


Virat is now definitely ready to carry the burden of nation. Well deserved century ! 
Jadeja getting so much turn and 3 wickets on day-1 of a test means just one thing. This test might end before lunch on day-4, if not earlier !
Hyderabad:
The theme at Hyderabad was: Kai Po CHE ! 
Clarke survived a very close LBW of Jadeja. So Jaddu boy decided to take the law into his own hands and bowled him now ! 
Clarke gambled by declaring with 1 wicket still left. But Dhoni is a Master of the Gamble: He sent 2 Night Watchmen to Open !
Shane Watson's wife gives birth to their first child. Likely to be named Powerpoint Presentation-1 ! 
Michael Clarke will get out in all possible ways to Jadeja before the end of this series !
Ravindra jadeja should be immediately appointed Honorary Manager of all Government offices. He knows how handle Clarkes !
Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay have beaten Australia by an innings at Hyderabad !
Of the 4 suspended Australian players, only one is a Man [Usman]. Rest all are Sons [Watson, Pattinson, Johnson] !
If coach were to ask Bhajji to make a presentation, he'd've given him a glittering 'gift wrapped' "Presentation !" 
Haddin going to India: He is expected to Wade through troubled waters !
Mohali:
India's Population Control Board must hire M S Dhoni's services. He can eliminate many with his ways at the crease during tight chases !
Mickey Arthur has ordered Phil Hughes to buy a Pup or Dog that can eat his homework before the second innings !
Rajeev Shukla was quoted as, "Shikar Dhawan is the best thing to have happened to Indian Cricket since Rahul Gandhi !"
Inspired from the famous Bachchan dialoguie from "Sharaabi": "Mooche Ho to ho Shikhar Dhawan jaisi, Nahin to naa ho !"
The Hundred Man and the Twirling Mustache
End of the road for the Viru-Gauty ? Too early to write them off but Dhawan, Vijay success means a happy Dhoni sans the Delhi-Bully gang !
Delhi:
 
Dhoni has won everything in this series except toss !
Jadeja will get two wickets lesser in Delhi test thanks to Clarke !
Jadeja can't give up on Australian Captains. Clarke nahin toh Watson sahi !
Jadeja completes an over in the time that Ishant takes to push back his hair into place !
Will Ojha spend 1 year on 99 ala Tendulkar ?
We soon might have ads like "This ball of the over sponsored by...blah blah" on NEO Prime TV !
I wonder why they didn't send Ajinkya Rahane to open. He has enough experience opening; the drinks bottles !
Indian middle order is like our bureaucracy. They sit in AC and order around. We people know they won't but we still expect them to deliver the goods !
  
Australia missed Clarke the bowler than the batsman. Jadeja too missed him, but the batsman !
Australia Captain Clarke has ''Declared'' they can take pride over the fact that India couldn't bowl them out 8 times in the series !
No more performance related worries for Mrs. Che Pujara !
Che Pujara's wife is totally satisfied and extremely happy with his performance !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

HomeWorkGate


In team sports its not uncommon to hear of players getting dropped on disciplinary grounds. Generally the charges are obvious (drinking, brawling, drugs), sometimes not-so-obvious (intra-team issues, personal rifts) but never has a reason such seemingly as frivolous as HomeWorkGate been given.



It came as a shock when it was announced that Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khwaja will not be taking part in the 3rd Test against India. on disciplinary grounds. And the  intensity increased when the "disciplinary grounds" on which they had been dropped were made public. In summary, players had been asked to give three points on how to improve the team (quite understandable given that they were coming from back-to-back losses). And these 4 gentlemen had failed to "present" their views in the time given.

Three Points Everyone – How Homeworkgate could have been avoided


“Sigh. I hope I can still carry drinks.”
Yesterday morning, I was wondering how slowly time passes by while one waits for the next cricket match featuring the Indian team. Then without warning, the cricket universe erupted in furor over the axing of four Australian cricketers from the Mohali game. Reason? The four players had failed to turn over an assignment to the coach within the imposed deadline. Task? Give at least three pointers about what the team had learnt from their drubbing in the first two tests and how they could improve over the remainder of the series. Predictably, Twitter and Facebook had a field day mercilessly mocking Mickey Arthur and the Aussie team. It seemed like an over-reaction from a frazzled team management in the middle of an important series gone terribly wrong.