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Clearly, there’s too much cricket going on. Today, when MSD came on to bat, he was playing two games; one against Bangladesh, the other in his mind. Shakib too, was playing two games; one against India, the other, you guessed it, in his mind – why else would he win the toss and field second? The dew be damned, I wanna play cricket mind games, Dhoni da!
Damn, another ad cut short – for the first ball of the over; came in half way through the spinner’s run-up, and even saw him deliver. The sceptics will say it was the Bangladeshi captain, Shakib bowling to his Indian counterpart, and the damn ad will run fully if it’s say, Mahmudullah bowling to Kohli. I have my doubts.
This is a trend; forcing us to consume more cricket, and miss out on some of those new Tata car ads. I could tell you what the ad’s about, but like the telecast, I’ll have to cut you short for a cricket update.
Here’s Rubel. Would you believe it, there’s a break for ball change, but still no ads. They’re showing the dismissals again. As if it’s not bad enough getting out once.
Shameful, an Ad cut short for the cricket.
What do you think the West Indies won?
It had to be a twenty20. They beat their masters Bangladesh, aren’t you glad you missed it? Shakib didn’t open the bowling, but he was up for the 2nd and 4th over. Was this the only game Shakib was not man of the match?
Bangladesh v West Indies v West Indies
By some simple twist of fate, and surf of the remote I found myself in an ODI in the Caribbean. I had no intention to watch this beleaguered Windies' team, but what could I do - the game was on and so was Ashraful – elevated from the equator to one down. With him, his general, foot soldier, one man army, Shakib Al Hasan!
You’d expect Bangla to win, which they did. The extra toppings: Sammy and someone else colliding and collectively spilling a catch, Roach being taken off after his second beamer, the look on Reifer's face, a wicket keeper-bowler's wicket of his second ball. After this even the harshest critic of Carib-cricket will come back for seconds!
Incidentally so did Thomas the keeper, he scalped another one in the same over. What fun.
The Invisible Man: Shakib Al Hasan
(At BCC! we started all this Shakibbing stuff, click back a few pages - soon, it will be cool to be Shakibbing)
Bangladesh beat some sort of West Indies team.
Remember Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan - over two years back they helped knock India out of the Carib World Cup, both scored 50s.While Tamim knocked Zaks around like some schoolboy, Shakib helped see Bangla through.
Today, Tamim was Man of the Match, where as Shakib scored runs, five wickets, and sealed the deal with the final wicket. In many ways it was the Best wicket.
They might only have beaten a half assed Windies team, but face it, they could have done the done thing and lost. And yeah, it was Tamim, Shakib and Mahmudullah who won it for them. Not Ashraful, not Mortaza.
While Ashraful scored 9 runs (6+3), Mortaza bowled 6.3 overs.
It's tough to say how good Bangla was, because who saw that match? OK, Tony Cozier was forced too. As were the umpires.
But this does open a new debate, should weaker teams play second string sides from stronger cricketing nations?
As if you care about Shakib Al Hasan
Good for Shakib he wasn't picked by an IPL team and Mortazaed - i.e played like his fellow Bangladeshi (by KKR) in their penultimate game, made to bowl the ultimate over, and ultimately lose them the match.
Moving on to Bangladesh's warm-ups for the T20 WC - looks like they've been at it - 3 warm-up games back home vs. Bangladesh A, as if you care. Followed by games vs. New Zealand, Netherlands and Scotland. And that was till 29th May.
On the 1st they play Australia, on the 2nd Sri Lanka.
And if you care, check out Shakib's showing in these games, esp vs New Zealand, not bad, eh?
Frankly, Shakib wasn't picked by an IPL team because nobody knew what he looked like, played like, what cola he liked? Had they hopped across here, who knows what would've been - Shakib Al Hasan (like fake) was both seriously and stupidly first talked about here at Bored.
Now what are the chances of Shakib taking India back to the future circa 2007? Let the Shakibbing continue.
SHAK is Numero Uno!
By Q
Call him our very own, call him our favorite son, call him our hero, call him our favorite minnow player, call him our favorite cricketer, call him BCC!'s Shak.
That is Shakib Al Hasan.
Bangladesh's favorite son.
We at BCC! rate him very highly and have so for a long time now.
Now the ICC have caught up with us as well.
His latest 3 wicket, unbeaten 30 odd, match and series winning performance has taken him to the top of ICC's ODI Allrounder Rankings.
Ahead of Andrew Flintoff, ahead of Jacques Kallis, ahead of Shoaib Malik, ahead of Chris Gayle, ahead of Sanath Jayasuriya, ahead of Yuvraj Singh, ahead of Paul Collingwood, ahead of Shahid Afridi.
Those are a lot of big names he's ahead of.
And he definitely deserves to be.
That's our Shak!
Believe in the Shakibbing
Bored Member Q is a believer. He believed in a man from a minnow nation.
After yesterday, even Shakib’s parents believe in him. Before that they wanted him to be a doctor, engineer or cross over to India. Even act in a crossover film. Anything but cricket Shakibu, they would say.
Now they watch him play. As will you.
That is if they telecast Bangladesh matches where you live.
Maybe you travel past the Urals and the Hindukush for a glimpse of Shakib.
At Bored Cricket Crazy Indians the banter on Shakib started long before his Mamas and the Papas played to his tune.
Be a believer. Donate some time for a player from a minnow nation.
Watch cricket grow. Watch yourself glow.
Dream & Nightmare XIs.
Bangladesh have been bad boys. They need to be spanked. Which they were, by Zimbabwe.
No, the Flowers haven't returned. Neither has Olonga. Nor Goodwin or Houghton or any of those guys who made your dream Zim XI. Now, out with it, you closet dreamer: what’s your Dream Zim XI? Don’t be shy just let your feelings roll on by…Is Traicos in? Johnson? And don’t say only Andy Flower, KP won’t like that.
Back to Bangladesh. They had their backs to all the walls in Mirpur. Zim 205, Shakib scalps 3 for 22. And what do Bangla do – they bungle it. Not Shakib though, he scorches 52 of 66.
Bangla 167/10. Time to rattle off your Nightmare Bangla XI, boys. How many for Ashraful as skipper, raise your typing finger.
Bangladesh wins.
Not a test but a session – the 1st one, 2nd test.
Earlier Mortaza mocked only Indians. Now he’s knocked two Lankans at a Balajiesque economy. Also in the same game, the Shakibbing continues – he knocked Jayawardene Sr for 11 in his 100th test. Elsewhere an English umpire hopped in his sleep.
The score midway through the 24th over: 55/3.This is Sri Lanka sans Sanath. But that Mendis fellow is back. A word of advice for the Banglas: don’t turn your back on him. He may not turn it much, but he does something anyway. 65/3, 27 overs. What’s for lunch?
Daring to Dream
By Q
If one cricketer can boast of 2008 being his year its Bengali boy Shakib Al Hasan.
8 tests, 400 runs and still counting. 30 wickets with fur 5 wicket hauls.
Brilliant!
I am tempted to call him BCC!'s very own Shakib Al Hasan!
Right now he's batting on 82 nearing a first ever test 100 in his 11th match.
At the crease with him is Mushfiq ur Rahim, the boy who played a part in dumping India from the 2007 World Cup.
Rahim's batting on 40.
The Target: 521.
IMPOSSIBLE.
Especially when you have Murali to face.
But Murali's bowled 41 overs - more than a third of the team's total.
Bangladesh's score: 373-6.
Status: Lunch time.
So another 60 overs or so to go.
Another 148 to get.
2 set batsmen at the crease.
One of them being BCC!'s own Shakib.
Murtaza to follow. He's no mug with the bat.
And Murali can bowl from only one end. Not both!
414 was chased easily last week.
387 was as well a week before that.
Will Bangladesh dare to dream?
Team of the Year - Really?
By Q
Do you first pick a team and then choose the best person out of the lot to captain them or do you first pick a captain and then fit him into a team?
That's what I thought when I took a glance at the 3 test teams of the year picked by the ICC, Vic Marks, and Peter Roebuck.
While the ICC chose Graeme Smith to captain their Test XI of the year, Roebuck picked Dhoni, while Marks shied away from naming his.
Dhoni had an 80% success rate in 5 tests as captain this year while Smith has a 66.67% success rate in 14 tests, which would be higher after this Melbourne test ends.
Based on that, both deserve it. I'll leave it till the end to decide on who it should be.
No two teams out of the 3 are identical thus leaving open the debate about which one is exactly the test team of the year.
Only Smith, Pietersen, and Steyn are common among all 3 teams.
Considering that Smith and Steyn head the leading run scorers and leading wicket takers lists respectively for 2008, their presence is a given.
But Pietersen, despite his awesome stature, has 11 batsmen ahead of him in the top run scorers for 2008, hence him being a unanimous choice in the XI is a bit bemusing.
Sachin makes the cut only for Marks' team, while the other two have left him out. Its difficult to leave a batsman of that reputation out of any team but when there are other batsmen who have done better, selection becomes a bit tricky.
But choosing KP when Sachin has more runs?
On the other hand Marks leaves out Shiv Chanderpaul, who is in the other two teams.
Chanders is the top ranked batsman currently. On top he's averaging over a 100 in 9 tests this year.
You can't leave him out!
Surely the three selectors had their own criteria but most runs or highest average is something even understood by the commoners.
Then how can you go wrong?
All three have picked different spinners.
Marks has gone for Harbhajan, Roebuck for Mendis, while the ICC have picked the best of the lot, Muralitharan.
Bhajji is the highest wicket taker among spinners this year followed by Vettori. So how Murali and Mendis are even considered is mind boggling.
Alright so Mendis averaged 18, but he played only 3 tests.
Murali averaged only 3 runs better than Vettori. When the difference in wickets is 15, I don't think 3 more runs per wicket makes much of a difference.
The choice of wicket keeper also makes one wonder.
Cricinfo picks Sangakkara, while the other two go for Dhoni.
They aren't even the highest run scorers this year.
McCullum is.
Even Haddin and Boucher have more runs than Sanga, while all 5 average around the same during 2008.
In terms of dismissals, Boucher and McCullum are heaps ahead of any other. Poor Sanga is right at the bottom.
They all got it wrong here IMO.
So how do you select a test team of the year?
The obvious way would be to pick the top 6 batsmen of the year, the top wicket keeper, and the top 4 bowlers.
Whether the top are the leading run scorers, wicket takers or those with the best averages is arguable.
Considering some play more than others during a year it shoud be fair to define a minimum number of matches and then select the ones with the best averages.
Lets say a minimum of 8 tests?
I think thats fair considering all top teams should have played that many in a year.
If they haven't the ICC need to revisit the FTP.
Besides Pakistan and Sri Lanka all teams played atleast 9 tests this year.
Even Bangladesh played more than the Lankans.
Pakistan is another story.
Going back to the team.
Batsmen
The top 6 batsmen in terms of averages (min 8 matches) are: Chanderpaul, Smith, Gambhir, Prince, De Villiers, and Katich.
It hurts me to leave Sehwag out but if Katich had played 3 more matches, as many as Sehwag, he would have gotten more runs.
Simple.
Wicketkeeper
Boucher had the most dismissals, McCullum the most runs, and Haddin the best average.
How do you choose?
McCullum has the most dismissals per match at 2.3, well above Boucher's 2.0 and Haddin's 1.9, hence he's the pick.
Spinner
The leading spinner in terms of average was Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan.
With 29 wickets in 8 tests with four 5 wicket hauls he did better than Vettori and better than Harbhajan. He even had a better strike rate than both of them.
Murali and Mendis just didn't play enough.
On top Shakib also has runs against his name.
Pace Attack
The top 3 pacers in terms of averages were Steyn, Sidebottom, and O'Brien.
Sure Johnson, Lee, Ntini, Andersen, and Morkel had more wickets but O'Brien would have gotten there had he played another 2-3 matches this year. His strike rate was far better than any of them this year.
Then what makes Marks ignore players from New Zealand and Bangladesh? In a better set up they would be match winners.
And what makes Roebuck take matches against Bangladesh out? Prince scored where Kallis failed and batsmen scored against the likes of Shakib who troubled the best.
Based on pure performance and no bias, here's the Test XI of the Year:
1. Graeme Smith
2. Gautam Gambhir
3. Simon Katich
4. Shiv Chanderpaul
5. Ashwell Prince
6. AB De Villiers
7. Brendon McCullum
8. Shakib Al Hasan
9. Dale Steyn
10. Ryan Sidebottom
11. Iain O'Brien
Picking a captain out of that isn't so difficult then is it?
Bring on the Shakibbing
Shakib Al Hasan – heard the name? Why should you have? You've sold your soul to England vs. India vs. Australia vs. New Zealand. Shakib is no ordinary player, even though he plays for an ordinary team. Recently, he's even played more cricket than Tendulkar. That's why we write about him more. Of course, once Sachin's back, this could all change very fast. Shakib's latest heroics: a five for, and 14 of 12 balls, both vs. SAF. If you don’t believe, link up folks.
Coz he's a Jolie good fellow!
by Naked Cricket
If there’s one player this BCC! would like to adopt, then it has to be Shakib Al Hasan. He plays for Bangladesh but belongs to us. In a way, he’s the new Ashraful. Not that he’ll win games, but he gives hope where none should exist. Yesterday, and today (IST) vs. SAF, both A & S saved B’desh from making complete asses of themselves. Chasing rainbows, they first reined in the proteas, then scored a half century a piece. Meanwhile B’desh went to pieces. But then this is no World Cup.
Please refer to the Bored-to-death Labels under Shakib Al Hasan for more Shakibbing!
and the SHAKIBBING continues ...
By Q
Bangladesh lead by 238 runs.
69.4 Patel to Shakib Al Hasan, FOUR, three on three for Shakib, a juicy full toss and he hits it through wide mid-on.
69.3 Patel to Shakib Al Hasan, FOUR, another boundary, similar delivery and the shot is through wide mid-on to the fence.
69.2 Patel to Shakib Al Hasan, FOUR, on the off stump, goes down on one leg and swings over midwicket to the fence.
SHAKIBBING the Kiwis !
By Q
Not only did he torment them with his slow left armers picking up 7-36, he's also giving Vettori & Co. a tough time keeping the target as low as possible.
Batting on 27* at tea in an unbroken 6th wicket partnership of 40 with 1st innings hero Mushfiq-ur-Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan is having one hell of a test match.
