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It’s taken some time, like a few dog years to unleash poor Amit Mishra on to cricket again. Trouble is, he was arguably the best drinks’ boy going – his Virgin Mary, bloody good.
Amit Mishra warmed the benches through the Aussie one-day series. Before that he replaced an ineffective Bhajji in the Champions Trophy, and did more than a fair job. I cannot tire of saying this, because soon his replacement Ojha too will be relegated to the spinners’ graveyard. Murali Kartik’s India career tombstone is particularly impressive. Just that there is no date of demise; appears his career was buried even before it began.
So too with Amit Mishra. And anyone else who claims to spin the ball or bowl slow. This is one of the reasons Ganguly refused to bowl much in spite of Toronto. Or why both Sehwag and Sachin are reluctant to turn their arm around, or for that matter, over the wicket. Why, even MS Dhoni, who jags them back like a boomerang, raised his hands, and kept to himself.
Back to now: Amit Mishra finally bowled outside of the nets, grabbed 3 for 16 of 6, and knocked Kerala for 93.
Mishra, look at it this way, you may not be playing for India, but you are for Haryana. And don’t we all know, that Bhajji isn’t even good enough for that.
Aside: During the Mumbai test, Jimmy Amarnath quizzed Ravi Shastri on Bhajji’s bowling – Shastri did not reply. Let us not allow Bhajji to get away this time. A slap on a cricketer’s face was bad enough. A slap on cricket, NO WAY. Ask more of Indian cricket. More than No. 1.
Doubt Bhajji would be half as good playing for Haryana
Freak show
There’s a Ranji game on, Railways vs. Gujarat. Look at the scorecard, and it’s more like Gujarat vs. Gujarat – 91 in 58.2 overs. But that’s the least of it; look at Sanjay Bangar’s figures: 19.2-11-17-3, what has he become, a bowling machine? Top that he comes and bats, 31 not out. If he goes on like this, they’ll have to call Railways Airways.
Then there’s captain, Murali Kartik, he didn’t even bowl one over. With a name like his, no matter what you do, how you spell it, (Karthik or Kartik), Indian cricket treats you like you’re thick or something – anyway he grabbed three catches.
Also discovered this fiery sounding name – Cheluvaraj, nickname Chalu. He’s also the Railways' wicketkeeper; if ever MS needs a break from tests they should try him. He has the patience of a European doctor in Africa: 10 of 90. And guess what he opens too.
B the moment of the match
KKR playing DC
Just as when Sharukh Khan was thinking of calling his travel agent to book his ticket to South Africa, Mashrafe Mortaza decided to save some cost for the team.
A day when the adage "Every dog has its day" was coming close to reality for the KKR pack, when one saw Ajit Agarkar defy his usual self and bowl a brilliant 19th, McCullum smile on field, Kartik bowling a good spell of 4 tight overs. When one started feeling that KKR are ducking the trend to win one, Mashrafe thought otherwise.
I would ask the KKR team to may be try their luck with book cricket first. And when they do that, I would recommend that they borrow a book from Scorpicity. That seems to be the only way KKR can win one.
4-0-18-0 X 2
Knight Riders vs Daredevils, the tale of two spinners, Amit Mishra and Murali Kartik, both with identical bowling analysis - 4 overs-no maidens-18 runs-no wickets. Also neither player made it to India's T20 WC squad. Also neither player is the chosen one of Indian cricket.
Murali was forgetten a long time back, Amit is being forgotten as we speak. Sometimes, your best is just not good enough for Indian cricket. Is it time for one of the cricketers to become a Fake IPL Player?
