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when you have the world record holder for most catches, rahul dravid in the ranks... what is sachin doing at first slip...?
apparently sachin was looking to protect his heavily taped forefinger... his reaction was slow and tentative conceding four runs...the way premsdasa pitch behaves in the second innings...the pattern of low scores... that was an opportunity lost... at least of saving valuable runs...
Showing posts with label Dravid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dravid. Show all posts
can you explain dhoni...?
Rahul And I
It’s not easy being a Dravid supporter. Without either a mob following, or even widespread civilian recognition, perhaps it isn’t that easy being Rahul Dravid. This is especially so since March 2007, when Dravid-lead India crashed out of the Caribbean disaster that the World Cup was. Though that was followed by a decent tour of England where India and England shared the spoils of the Tests and ODIs respectively, for Dravid personally, the scrunity was getting sharper and the screams of opposition, louder.
Dravid’s batting began to fall from its pristine average. In hindsight, perhaps it was a stroke of genius that subsequent to that tour, he relinquished captaincy for reasons that are obscure till date, for Dhoni’s boys who went to the T20 World Cup as nearly a club side returned home with the trophy. Dravid’s batting in the subsequent series against Australia didn’t flatter either. One public ignomity followed the other.
Dravid was dropped from the ODI side, and labeled as “not adding value” by the then chairman of selectors, Dilip Vengsarkar. Then in Australia, while Dravid took on the much despised role of opening the innings, and did the “dirty work”, it was only in Perth, that we saw an innings of Dravid’s standards. From them on, there was a century against South Africa, but it was mostly downhill from there on: Dravid’s batting average began to dip, the quality lacking and the stability vanishing. Half centuries were grinded through and centuries hard to come by and interspersed by long intervals of time.
Nervousness and pressure to perform seemed to be taking over one of India’s most solid batsmen. Some of us asked why, still fewer waited in patience. After the tour Sri Lanka, when Indian batting line up as a whole failed to deliver, Dravid was seen as among the chief conspirators. Many among the patient ones gave up hope, yet, a few, mind you, very few (in comparison to the garrison of Ganguly fans) held on the tiny ray of hope that the phoenix will rise again. It would only be a matter of time.
“He’s still got it, he just needs to dig it out” was our argument. We silently wished, and merrily cheered as every Test innings showed signs of revival and fluency of old.
Today, Dravid has been given another opportunity to dig it out; to show the rest of the folk what it means to be solid; to reiterate to the world that every brick in the wall counts. While it is certainly a time to rejoice, it will be shadowed by a sense of wariness, for there are still many voices who have labeled his selection in to the ODI squad as a backward move of the selectors. Dravid will want to prove his worth yet again and perhaps that when you have taken a step astray, moving backwards may not be bad at all!
Go Dravid, show us you steel yet again. Even if we don’t take to the streets, you probably will know that we are there cheering you albeit with tiny voices.
Victoria also blogs at VM's Randon Ramblings
Rahul Dravid returns.
If this is to ensure that India keeps out the short stuff, i don't know how its gonna work.
Will including Dravid collectively improve the technique of Raina, Gambhir and Yusuf against the bouncer?
As i see it, there's one more pair of old legs in the field now alongside Sachin.
Instead of working on the so called chink in the armour, we have decided to go a step back by bringing out the old Wall after 22 months of absence from the ODI format.
Might work in the short run, but how long are we going to defend the young guns?
Time for some seaming, bouncy wickets at the academies?
Of Course we won't use them in home matches, every country has to offer different challenges. But we gotta learn to bat in other conditions too.
Also, SA skittling us for 66 at home or even NZ rolling us over for 78 is not very enjoyable.
Prafs can also be found bowling wides down the leg side at Right Arm Fast
Cricket Freedom.
What with India’s 62nd Independence Day, the whole freedom routine’s rubbed off our cricket too:
1. Indian cricketers’ freedom from the clutches of WADA’s ‘Whereabouts’ clause: whereabouts they will achieve this freedom is known – in BCCI they trust.
2. Sreesanth’s freedom from the heavy hand of Indian cricket in some far away English county.
3. Dravid’s freedom from that test cricket tattoo, gate-crashing the ODIs through the IPL – a more bizarre revolt in cricket is unknown.
4. Bhajji and MSD’s freedom from conservation: the Hummer. What next, the U.S. army? Afghanistan.
5. Ganguly’s freedom from John Buchanan. A freedom struggle that likened India’s non-violent revolt, a stoic and resolute Dada withstood the verbal canes of the goras, only to emerge as the father of the Knight Rider nation, again.
6. India’s freedom from cricket. Come again, when last did we play?
7. England's freedom from cricket. Come again, when last did they play?
Hamilton Test Day 2 - Where's your money?
Gambhir and Dravid scored today. Laxman flopped, by his standards of course.
Where's your money for tomorrow? Here's mine:
- Sachin if he makes it past the initial "settling down"
- Harbhajan (yes, really) :)
Cheers!
Ranji snippets
by Homer
Random thoughts on the Ranji quarterfinals
1. Chesteshwar Pujara - Scoring runs on the Rajkot featherbed is one thing, scoring runs when it matters, quite another. Coming in at 13/3, chasing 325 runs for an outright win, on a 4th innings Brabourne stadium pitch and scoring a ton to seal the deal - this kid is more ready than I thought he was 4 weeks ago.
2. Subramanian Badrinath - The 92* in the second essay may not be enough to get Badri another chance to fail in the Indian team. Has fallen well behind in the pecking ordewr to take up Rahul Dravid's job.
3. Rahul Dravid - Is Barkus willing? The talent is there, so is the ability.. But the mind continues to play tricks.
4. Lakshmipathy Balaji - The Smile is back. And how!!
5. Piyush Chawla - Where has the mojo gone?
6. Vineet Indulkar - The next great Mumbai batsman before Rohit Sharma became the next great Mumbai batsman. Now plays for HP along with Bhavin Thakkar. Which begs the question - why are people lamenting the death of Mumbai cricket if there are so many Mumbailkars unable to find a spot in the team and are forced to ply their trade elsewhere?
7. The Mumbai Cricket team - In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King. This is the wrong team - wrong balance, wrong selection, just plain wrong. This team has ONE bowler ( Dhawal Kulkarni), the rest make up the numbers ( with occassional cameos). The batting order is unsettled,with the top3 (4?) alternating places. They have an apology of a leg spinner, all of 36 years of age who neither bats nor bowls. The captaincy has changed hands 4 times in the last 6 years. This is ateam with no selection continuity or investment in youth ( Iqbal Abdulla, Mumbai's main spinner last season and all of 18, does not make the final XV).And yet, Mumbai has won 5 games outright (out of the 7) in the league phase and continues to crush opponents. And things will only get rosier with Zaheer Khan and Sachin Tendulkar joining the team from the semis onwards..
Who would have thought?
optimising resources...
there was hardly any surprise this time when dravid came again at no.3...
you need some one to protect batsmen...near close of play...after the dream start provided by viru...
...and he is the perfect guy to come in as nightwatchman...
this is what we call optimising resources at disposal...
though england will be hoping that dravid won't take his new task seriously...
Dravid gatecrashes limited overs party
In the 'Bored of Dravid again' Poll 50% blamed the Colonel for Jammy’s Jam, 20% a former Coach. Naturally nobody blamed Jammy as that was not an option. Limited Poll, yes, but what can you expect in these days of limited overs cricket – where Gayle’s last innings was the limit, as also the umpiring.
A Few Nagpur Thoughts ...
By Q
When I asked a question regarding what next for Sachin, the simplest answer would have been - the 40th ton!
When I asked Rahul Dravid to get felicitated during the Nagpur test, I meant it!
If someone had told me that Krejza would get the wickets of Sehwag, Dravid, and Laxman in his debut test, I would have laughed on their face!
When I said that a weight had been lifted of Sachin's shoulders, it was a true story!
Who is M Vijay? Where are the Jaffars? Karthiks? Chopras?
If someone had told me that Krejza would bowl the most overs for Australia on day 1 of the Nagpur test, I would have laughed again!
Jam Jammy.
Why did Dravid come in @3? To realise Bhogle’s prophecy of “even if he makes two ducks…”
Get Felicitated Rahul...
By Q
When Australia's 2006-07 season started there was a lot of media speculation about it being the last season for a number of the senior players.
McGrath, Warne, Hayden, Martyn, Langer, Gilchrist were well past their 30s but all denied that retirement was anywhere on the horizon.
But as the Ashes in Australia came to an end that season, 4 of these seniors had hung up their boots.
However, their announcements had came at different times.
While McGrath had announced his retirement before the series began, Martyn ended up abandoning the team midway and calling it a day. Warne announced it after the Ashes were sealed, whereas Langer did so before the final test of the series.
India's ongoing series against Australia has been somewhat similar.
There was news of the Voluntary Retirement Scheme for the senior citizens and speculation about the careers of Sachin, Saurav, Dravid, Laxman, and Kumble was increasing by the day.
As always, all of them said they know when to go and that no one should dictate it to them.
Just before the series started, the first retirement announcement was made public as Saurav Ganguly told the world that this would be his last series.
As the series went on, the speculation around Kumble peaked but Kumble kept shutting the media up.
Finally injuries and other things caught up with him and he too called it a day on the final day of the penultimate test of the series.
The final test of the series kicks off in 2 days.
Will someone announce their retirement before or during the match?
It is highly unlikely that Sachin or Laxman are going to do that. Both have plenty of years left in those legs.
But Dravid?
Highly likely I reckon.
With Kumble gone, he might feel a bit distant from the captain, the same captain who has kept him out of the ODI team.
What more he might also be feeling left out as the only senior who is not being felicitated at Nagpur.
Maybe he wants a felicitation.
What better way to get it than by announcing the last test of your career?
A Special Day
By Q
I meant a VV Special Day!
I called it yesterday. Batting on 104 and no one looks classier than him when he scores.
Quite a partnership he has put up with Gambhir, who himself is approaching a double! What a knock he's played.
Poor Dravid would be feeling left out. I wonder if he would ever come back to his form of old. Watching the highlights I could not believe I saw him chase a wide one and get out. That was Dravid?
Back to Laxman and Gambhir - Marvellous!
What about Dravid? and Kumble?
By Q
Sachin, Saurav, and Laxman will be honoured in Nagpur.
What about the other two senior citizens?
Dravid plays shot, gets out.
Sources close to Dravid's edge claim he was in a hurry to load some Diwali pictures on to Facebook. Appears he will be tagged soon.
"I'll have what she's having"
At lunch Rahul Dravid did something totally out of character. He pushed his plate aside. And growled, pointing at Viru's plate, "I'll have what's he's having" The Big O followed.
A measure of Dravid.
What were they thinking? Ten thousand bricks? Next, one million clocks around Chinnaswamy Stadium? To salute The Wall's long vigil at the crease.
Who needs a kick on the butt?
by Raja Baradwaj
With the Irani Trophy slated for tomorrow and the selection for the Australia Test series to follow, we would have a busy week ahead. All we bored cricket fans would be busy arguing, justifying and as usual accusing & abusing the wise men and their marshal.
To lead us into the debate here are some numbers and also a few pointers, my interpretation of what these numbers mean. To start, these numbers are from cricinfo.
What do we see here?
1. These are statistics taken from the last 25 test matches these guys have played
2. It becomes the last 23 test matches for Yuvraj and the last 21 for Dinesh Kartick
3. We can see the Runs scored, the number of completed innings played for scoring the runs (not outs and didn't bat not included)
4. Also there are the average number of runs scored – In total, in the first innings and in the second innings
5. Another assumption here is that Sachin would be ready and fit for selection by the time the wise men sit
What do the numbers say?
1. If at all someone from the middle order needs to go, it looks like Tendulkar, he has the leanest scorecard at present. And also a very poor second innings track record
2. Kumble scores more runs in his first innings than what Tendulkar makes in his second
3. No difference between the two wicketkeepers analyzed. The max difference we see is that one is called DHONI!!
4. We have a solution for Yuvraj, to be part of the test team. Go learn to keep wickets in tests. Otherwise his average seems lots better when you compare it to the two wicketkeepers. That seems to be the only way he can force his way into the test team.
5. Tendulkar should be given special permission to bat only in the first innings. Kumble could bat for him in the second, he would score more because that innings would be his first and his first innings average is better than Sachin's second
6. We should get the rules changed a bit to play 2 wicketkeepers in a match. Dinesh Kartick should be played in the first and Dhoni should play the second innings
7. Ganguly should be in the team, the numbers say that he is the best middle order batsman we have at present
1. If at all someone from the middle order needs to go, it looks like Tendulkar, he has the leanest scorecard at present. And also a very poor second innings track record
2. Kumble scores more runs in his first innings than what Tendulkar makes in his second
3. No difference between the two wicketkeepers analyzed. The max difference we see is that one is called DHONI!!
4. We have a solution for Yuvraj, to be part of the test team. Go learn to keep wickets in tests. Otherwise his average seems lots better when you compare it to the two wicketkeepers. That seems to be the only way he can force his way into the test team.
5. Tendulkar should be given special permission to bat only in the first innings. Kumble could bat for him in the second, he would score more because that innings would be his first and his first innings average is better than Sachin's second
6. We should get the rules changed a bit to play 2 wicketkeepers in a match. Dinesh Kartick should be played in the first and Dhoni should play the second innings
7. Ganguly should be in the team, the numbers say that he is the best middle order batsman we have at present
Add 0.55 to turn the English language on its head
Excerpts from today’s Times of India
Saurav Ganguly:
“Did reasonably well in the IPL scoring 349 runs in 13 games at an average of 29.08”
Rahul Dravid:
“His IPL campaign was disastrous: 371 runs in 14 games at 28.53”
That’s a difference of 0.55 between the averages of the two players.
By the way, TOI did not put the above words in italics. They could’ve used a red marker, if not a fluorescent one.
Cricketing Inventions and Lessons from a Bored Afternoon
by VM
I never thought that an odd invention from a bored summer afternoon would occupy my childhood fancies so much. What could possibly happen when it’s so scorching hot that you aren’t allowed outside, you don’t have a proper bat, and less than three people available for a team game? Stick-cricket happened.
As the name suggests, it’s a modified form of the game we love, only with rules tweaked to make a game out of the several restrictions that I describe. It’s mostly played with only two people using a stick – often curtain rod - and a harmless plastic ball or occasionally mock-tennis ball to minimize any damage to our surroundings. A box or shelf doubled up for stumps and a line drawn with chalk delineated the batting-crease. There was no wicket keeper, unless we could afford a third player, and no fielders, well, actually there was one fielder: the bowler. There was no umpire either, the batsmen would have to “walk”, in this case to the bowling crease, to bowl to the person who he has just faced as bowler. Honesty was necessary and inevitable, for anything contrary would mean returning either to the books or the boring TV. No “in-the-air” shots were allowed, for that could cause damage at home and invoke the ire of the folk at home. The rules were thus set up.
So how does the batsman score? Well, the bowler would run up for a few steps and bowl to the only other player: the batsman. The batsman could then hit it some distance and run to the other end, quick enough to reach there before the bowler could pick up and throw to the end the batsman is running at. Hitting the end from which the batsmen is running from would not constitute a run out! So the game goes on like this.
If you’re thinking that it’s a boring game, you may not be too far from the truth, though it must be said that it kept me occupied and saved me some very boring afternoons. But more that anything, playing this game was in many ways the moment of truth for the cricket fan in me. It taught me how hard it can be to hit the ball for single, without dragging it on to my makeshift stump, how valuable the reverse sweep could be, and what talent it takes to hit a four. I must add that we did get better at scoring, but only with a lot of practice and meanwhile learned the art of patience. Most importantly, it turned me from a jingoistic cricket fan to an appreciative fan who would attempt notice the details, and most importantly realize that it is after all a game and not war, as was often portrayed by the newspapers then. Maybe this is why I like Test cricket more and than any other form. Perhaps this is also why most of favorite batsmen are the more patient like Dravid, Kallis and Chanderpaul.
Do you have a cricket-based invention from childhood or a cricket-watching moment of truth? There’s no better place than here to share.
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