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Showing posts with label Bangalore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bangalore. Show all posts
For the imperfect ones
Dodgy shoulder meets dodgy knee meets dodgy form. Further, dodgy pitch meets dodgy reviews meets dodgy series opener. 0-1 down in the series, after losing his opening mate for a duck, it was up to KL Rahul, in Cheteshwar Pujara’s company, to make something out of a dodgy start. They did.
But after their partnership of 61 runs (also the innings highest), there wasn’t another fifty-run one. Dodgy little ones followed, India was bowled out for 189. A dodgy first innings’ score, with the fresh promise to go 0-2 down in the series.
In addition to Rahul’s 90, there was one unseen positive. India had batted 71.2 overs. In the two innings of the first Test, India only batted a combined 74 overs (40.1 and 33.5 overs).
And while Australia batted long, right into the third day, India kept Australia’s scoring down to a dodgy run rate of 2.25. Australia’s lead of 87, although significant, wasn’t quite backbreaking. And in spite of Rahul’s dodgy shoulder, Pujara’s dodgy knee, Rahane’s dodgy form, their spines were intact.
After joining Rahul at 11/1 in the first innings, Pujara joined him again at 38/1 – India still 48 runs in arrears. When Rahul was dismissed, India was ahead, and the two had stitched together the second highest partnership of the innings – on a dodgy Bangalore pitch, those 45 runs were gold.
Already in his short Test career, Rahul has brought criticism upon himself for being too loose to open the innings. While he is far from textbook outside off, when he creams them through the covers, the icing accompanies the cake with a lit red candle thrown in.
n the series so far, he has outscored openers on both sides – his 215 runs to next-best Renshaw’s 133 runs. He’s also the top scorer on both sides, next is Steve Smith with 172 runs. But backing Rahul isn’t an easy call in Tests – in addition to the dodgy shoulder and being dodgy outside off, he will play the odd dodgy shot. As he did in the first innings in Pune.
However, in addition to Kohli, he is the only top order batsman with active roots in India’s limited overs’ cricket (Pujara, Rahane, Vijay are not T20I, ODI mainstays, they may never be). It may be in the team’s best interests to accept Rahul’s adventurism – two of his three half centuries in this series have been scored at a strike rate of 60+ (match defining in these conditions)
After Rahul’s wicket, India found itself lost in the Kohli-LBW decision and the Jadeja promotion gone wrong. It was at 120/4, only 33 runs ahead, that Pujara was joined by Rahane on probation.
Pujara has in the past, flourished on return, after being dropped from the side. On this occasion, the Aussies dropped him, repeatedly. They paid, much as India has when they have dropped their number three man (Pujara has the most runs by any batsman at No.3 in Tests since 2016 – ahead of Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Hashim Amla; and at a much higher batting average).
Keeping Pujara company was Rahane, also dropped, though only once. That was enough for him to rediscover his range – gone was the dodginess of recent innings, replaced by a surety in defence, footwork and shot selection. What followed was strike rotation, and the first session in the series when a wicket didn’t fall.
In Pujara and Rahane, India found balance. One that was achieved by almost similar personalities, soft spoken, introspective, concerned for the well-being of the other – almost more than their own.
The two crept up on Australia, without a hint of the fatal damage they were causing them. It was quiet, workmanlike occupation of the crease. Barely an over went without a single being taken. Barely a maiden bowled. Bit by bit, these two bared the bowling.
In the post-tea session on the third day, India slowly deep-fried Australia and some pakoras to go – with a single in the 68th over, Rahane on one knee, swept India past their first 200 plus score of the series.
Here’s Kohli on Pujara-Rahane:
“After conceding the lead, that was a champion partnership. The only 100-run partnership in the series so far. Two guys stepping up, I would say two best Test players we have got in our side and showed so much character, technique and heart to pull the team out of trouble and to get the lead”
A few days back, after India’s first innings debacle, it was asked, "Can this team rise without its best man?”
KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have risen, beyond their dodgy selves and squared the series. While Rahul was declared Man of the Match, Kohli’s words will push Pujara and Rahane on, as will their match-defining partnership.
It was their 118 runs across two days and 45.2 overs, right into the second new ball, that brought upon a new dawn in this series. A 188-run target on this pitch was more like the 300 runs Michael Clarke thought India needed. India knew that, and deep down Australia knew it too. Which is why they lost 6 for 11 in Bangalore after India lost 7 for 11 in Pune.
The fat lady was long done with her singing. But who would’ve thought a dodgy shoulder, dodgy knee and dodgy form would join in in the chorus?
First published here
Uncomfortably numb: Can this Indian team rise without their best man?
There appeared to be some happiness on the first day of the second Test, it was when Virat Kohli won the toss. He looked cheery, that there could be a possible change in his team’s fortunes. He chose to bat. Why? Because that’s what you do when you win the toss in India. So, with a prayer on their lip, and a rosary in their hand, two Indian openers walked out to bat.
When things
aren’t going your way, you start to believe that there is such a thing as ‘things
not going your way’ – it makes more things go against you. You become negative.
The opposition appears far too positive. They have the moves. You, you’re left
standing there. As it was with India’s first wicket, the ball appeared to plonk
itself on stand-in opener, Abhinav Mukund’s pad like some bird’s droppings. How
did that happen? New ball bowlers don’t hurl yorkers at new ball batsmen, they
bowl line and length. But Mitchell Starc is not your everyday new ball bowler.
He’s thoughtful in an eerily menacing way, as if he shares an axe murderer’s
joke with himself in the course of each ball.
That ball
he hoodwinked Mukand with, had cruel joke written all over it. Comeback to Test
cricket after all these years for this?
If the
black holes of disbelief in Mukund’s eyes were anything to go by, you knew, at
that precise moment, this team was still very much in Pune. Uncomfortably
numbed by the enormity of that defeat, kneaded like dough, baked and knifed, one
by one, into 11 equal slices.
It didn’t
matter how many you made, how long you lasted in Pune, your misery was
infectious and it had infected your mate – you were brothers in need of an
urgent balm.
There was a
stink to that defeat. One that doesn’t go away, definitely not in a few days. That
stink had accompanied this Indian team to Bangalore. And had latched on to
someone who did not even play in Pune. Being a witness on the bench was close
enough.
The
relative calm of close to two hours when Australia went wicketless was
overshadowed by Australia’s menace – it was a prelude to a kill. One that
daunted India, much as it propelled the Aussies.
On the
stroke of lunch, Pujara became the first of Nathan Lyon’s eight kills.
Possibly, the most significant. Pujara, and not Kohli, is the time delay,
before the inevitability of this series, wraps its pythonlike grip on the rest
of the batting.
After KL
Rahul’s 327 balls faced so far, its Pujara’s 147 deadpan deliveries faced that
have meekly stalled the Aussies. Followed by Rahane’s 118 largely troubled
deliveries. In three innings so far, Virat Kohli has lasted 56 balls – that’s
less than ten overs.
And with
all those stats churned out of Macs and computing staring them in the face,
these fantastic Indians faced the inevitability and sadness of listening to
Leonard Cohen speak in their ears – “If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game, if
you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame
Cohen is
dead and in all likelihood so is India’s dream homerun.
It died
some more with Kohli’s lack of judgement or possibly, excess of judgement. When
‘to play or not to play’ is the question burdening the captain, he will either
not play at one he should play at and vice versa. If Kohli’s leave wasn’t
macabre enough, the subsequent review and premature walk off was the icing on
the EEK!
For a brief
moment, India was trapped on 94/3, reminiscent of the ruins of Pune, when 94/3
morphed into Ravi Shastri’s infamous, “7-11 show” mentions.
Rahane hung
around long enough to earn himself more ridicule, and comparisons between his
overseas and home records. His stay at the crease would’ve made Umesh Yadav of
one First Class-100 fame cringe. But
this home series too shall pass, and Rahane was a mere part of a freefall, as
were the ones to follow.
Except 303*
who made way for Rahane just the other day. Karun Nair played spin and Starc
better than any Indian batsman – until, he decided his camaraderie was with his
comrades, and he too was stumped like Rahane.
And in the end there were none.
Not long
ago, just the other day in fact, there was one. Virat Kohli. The one-man show. The
others’ shone in his floodlight. The floodlights a tad dim these days, what the
other ten do through this swamp of a series will either sink this bunch further
or make them badass, hardened cricketers – players that shine in adversity, and
don’t just go down fighting but take the enemy down with them. This could be
the series to remember. Or forget.
First published here
First published here
How Haryana beat England
On the face of it, both Yuzvendra Chahal, 26, and Amit Mishra, 34, play for Haryana, bowl leg spin, and speak in Hindi in their post-match interviews. It was Chahal who started and ended England's downfall. With a lot of help from his senior partner.
By now, Mishra should be used to finishing second best. Even on days when it appears he's the best Indian bowler on show, it doesn't show up that way.
Chahal celebrates the dismissal of Root during the 3rd T20I of the series between India and England. AP
Before Mishra started his spell, England were on course, 55/1 from 6 overs. At the Chinnaswamy, a playground of big chases and big runs, England had won the toss and chosen to chase; they believed the target was within their reach. In T20, more than any other form, tricky chases hinge far more on such belief – as being set in a mode is far more doable across 120 balls than it is across 300 balls or for that matter a day or more.
Mishra started his spell with a dot ball, followed by a wicket off his second ball. He followed that with three more dots, conceding one run off his first over. (Here, please remind yourself what dot balls are in a T20 game, in either Shastri or Sunny's voice – "gold dust", "priceless")
Man of the Match and Man of the Series, Chahal, bowled the second over of the England innings. His first ball was reverse swooped on by Jason Roy. How you make a comeback after such a shellacking is the thing of heroes – and in chess champion, Chahal, India had one. And it's not just his beard, awaiting some streaks of grey, that resemble that of a canny Russian grandmaster.
Chahal appeared to speak to himself in broken English, "Anatoly, no worries for me, worries only for English." By his third ball, a fuller one, Chahal had Sam Billings' bat, pad, boot, and heart in his mouth - and catch in Suresh Raina's hand.
There was no way all out pace upfront was ever going to stop England in T20s, the dare to bowl Chahal in the power play would have turned the match, turned the series.
By the end of his second over, Chahal's figures read 1/21. He bowled both his overs in the power play, the second and the fourth. Being hit for a six and a four did not deter him from tossing it up, slowly – Chahal kept at it, with his fuller, challenging lengths.
By the end of Mishra's second over, England's offensive had been launched in earnest, everything had to go, and that included Mishra too. England was 77/2 off 9 overs; Eoin Morgan had taken 12 off Mishra. His figures 1/14 off two overs.
While Mishra's third over – the 11th of the match – gave India some comfort, having gone for only six runs, with Root facing half the over; it was in Raina's next over that Morgan ripped right into India's seemingly big total.
Taking 20 off Raina, Morgan was in beastie mode, moods that belittle 200-plus totals in T20s at the Chinnaswamy.
And that's where the unsung match winner, Mishra bowled his final over, the crucial 13th of the innings. He bowled six off his seven deliveries (wide included) to Root for just one single. There was a comedy of errors with a dropped catch, but after the monster Raina over, conceding just three runs, and vitally, keeping Morgan off strike was pretty much the game-changer.
Mishra (4-0-23-1), somewhat forlorn, as he usually is, finished his spell and all but served England for finishing to Chahal (2-0-19-1).
The lines remained outside off and two balls and two singles later, Morgan went against the turn, top-edging to just Rishabh Pant (and not Pant and Yuvraj this time). Next ball, Root fell, and Chahal was on a hat-trick for the second time in the series.
In the blink of an eye, England lost eight wickets for eight runs. Chahal finished England with the best-ever figures by an Indian – 6/25.
Not heard was Chahal telling himself, "Mishra like Castle, he slides straight but Anatoly like Queen, he appreciates Castle for good services but he moves in for the kill himself. He does Check and he does Checkmate!"
And that's how it will be remembered, Chahal won India the match, Chahal won India the series. And the England batsmen were mere pawns, sacrificed at the altar of leg spin.
First published here
First published here
India vs England Live. Sometimes.
To recreate a Live atmosphere for today's Bangalore game, we are in talks with the cops to lathi charge our readers.
You can follow multiple orgasm Live conversations of the Bored Members here.
Y Pathan? Yusuf answers.
1. Beard transplant via his namesake to maintain a steady head for fluent stroke play. Notice forward defense shots, that’s all beard-head dynamics.
2. Invasive hug to partner as if he was Mrs. Saurabh Tiwari.
3. Render two World Cup hopefuls hopeless. And some Kiwis too.
4. Squatted as if to prepare for morning ablutions, instead sweep-slogged a 6 over long on.
5. Revealed his scary venus fly trap tongue
6. Prepared for IPL auction even before the World Cup
7. No chewing gum
8. Teeth
9. Has his cricinfo profile updated on match day - best bowling analysis + score in one game, and it shows up.
10. Here's to sibling rivalry (Irfan, get off yr ass)
Bangalore Boredwaani 4: When Cheteshwar Pujara became Che again (shut up and listen)
Bangalore Boredwaani 3: Shut Up and Listen
Apprehensive bored members SP, Homer, NC and Achettup wonder where this match is headed and what more can happen after all the fascinating things that happened over days 3 and 4.
Bangalore Boredwaani 2: Shut Up and Listen!
Che Pujara's much awaited debut. Pakistan's much awaited new captain. The much awaited Early Bored calls.. A little late this time. Day 2 predictions at the end of Day 3, even funnier. Che, Freesanth, SP does a KK and we ask you to join us!
Q Moment of IPL Match #5
I so wanted this one to be about KP vs Freddie, but that was not to be even though KP bowled a few to Freddie, while Murali denied Freddie that chance.
So my moment of the match then.
10th over of the Super Kings' innings.
Hayden and Patel going great guns.
100 up before the mid point of the innings.
The 7.5 minute tacitical whactical is a couple of balls away.
Camera points to KP.
KP is warming up getting ready to bowl!
Didn't anyone tell him he won't get the ball till 7.5 minutes later?
Q Moment of IPL Match #2
Q called his brother: What happened in the game?
Q's brother: BRC scored 133 and Rajasthan were bowled out for 58!
Q: WHAT!!? How? Who scored? Who took the wickets?
Q's brother: Dravid scored 66 and Kumble took 5 wickets.
Q: They were playing a test match or what?
Bored to the bone – Quote of the day
Innings break, the wickets package on Neo Sports.
Ian Chappell & Mohinder Amarnath.
Ian Chappell’s comment on Zaheer Khan’s run out.
I don’t know why the on-field commentators were blaming Dhoni for this run out. Zaheer is an experienced player and see what he is doing here. Trying to go through
Guessplay: Day 2, 1st Session
Washed out
111/1
78/3
Aussie team stuck in Bangalore traffic jam
All of the above
None of the above
What’s your call? Do you have one? Speak now or forever remain silent. Till the next session. Btw you can delete your comment if it’s way off the mark. And if you don’t, we will.
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