We just had a brilliant Test match unfold between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. This is what sporting pitches can do (no disrespect to the Kanpur result). I’ll have many things to say about it, but I just wanted to talk about Peter Fulton, who, for God knows what reason, decided not to review his LBW decision in the 2nd innings even though he knew he had an inside edge.

I don’t know much about Fulton; the commentators seemed to imply he’s in dreadful form. But you just watch his face after he’s been given out, and your heart breaks. He touches his bat; sees the red mark; looks at the pitch and his partner (who’s looking down, almost out of shame), and then he walks off, resigned. He’s so low on confidence, the guy actually wanted to be given out and figured he’d be of more use in the dressing room.

This review system has thrown everyone for a loop, but this must be its saddest encounter yet. It’s almost an old-fashioned nod to fate and fortune: I know I wasn’t out; I know I can reverse it — but I won’t, because ’tis my time to go. (Watch it here, Part III video.)

Dravid on completing his 28th Century

In all the news that India saved the test match last week and Sachin Tendulkar crossed 30000 international runs there was another player who achieved a great feat in the same match. He was Rahul Dravid who touched the 11000 run mark in test matches. The fifth player ever and only the second Indian to do so. In this match he went past the 11174 runs tally of Allan Border. He now has 11182 runs and is only behind Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting which itself speaks of the heights he has gained in the past decade.

He made his debut in 1996 and in about 13 years he has become the third highest run getter in Test matches. His ODI record is also nothing less where he has amassed 10765 runs. He has generally crossed many milestones very quietly, actually without many people noticing it. And now one can only see him among the top. With the form he has shown in the past two matches 12000 run mark does not look a distant dream. A milestone only Sachin Tendulkar has achieved so far.

He has been the backbone of the Indian team for a long time now, and has truly justified the nickname “Wall” given to him. He has bailed out the team on many occasions, one of the most recent examples being the last test match where India for 30 odd for 4 wickets and then he hit 177 to reach a total of 426. He has also contributed many times in the victories a few examples being his 233 at Adelaide against Australia in 2004 series can never forgotten neither can be his 190 against the same opponents at Kolkata in 2001, where from having a follow on he partnered with VVS Laxman scripted history and one of the most amazing wins of Indian Cricket. The most recent being the second Test match against Sri Lanka where his 144 has helped India register its third biggest win and also its 100th Test match victory.

In the end I would like to salute his contribution to Indian cricket and congratulate him on his recent milestone. Also I hope that he does cross many more and give us many more moments to cherish.

Dravid on his way past Border

The next Sachin Tendulkar? Martin Crowe thinks so.

In discussing the successfully dysfunctional 1990-91 Chicago Bulls team, Coach Phil Jackson once referred to the following Graham Greene quote from The Third Man:

In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed – they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance.  In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? – the cuckoo clock.

The same could be said of the current Pakistani cricket team. Their fairytale run to the World T20 Title, while not wholly unexpected, presented a contrast in approaches to more organized outfits like Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia. Inevitably, the months since that victory have seen a crisis in captaincy, more leadership issues in the PCB and the growing realization that teams will not tour Pakistan over security concerns. While domestic instability has contributed towards the last factor, the PCB can only blame itself for a number of other issues (see the Osman Samiuddin piece for more on that train wreck; Tony Greig has similar thoughts here). The Pakistani team seems to be in a twilight zone of sorts- absurdly, the current tour of New Zealand counts as a “home” series, as will the fixtures played out against Australia in England next year- where unpredictability is the norm.

And yet, out of this storm have emerged some of the most exciting young talents on the cricket scene. Mohammad Asif is old hat to many Indian fans, who will recall his demolition job in Lahore, but we forget that he is only 27 years old- as old as Gautam Gambhir, who is still grouped with other youngsters in the Indian team. I am not entirely sold on Fawad Alam, but scoring a century on debut, in Sri Lanka, is laudable and he has time aplenty to prove himself. Huge holes at the top of the order continue to plague the batting line-up, but the most exciting member of the Pakistani team comes further down. Martin Crowe mentioned that he hadn’t seen such a batting prospect since Sachin Tendulkar made his first hundred in New Zealand, nearly twenty years ago. Calm and collected in the game’s shorter formats, this wunderkind is helping Pakistani cricket fans banish memories of Inzamam. Despite being less than ten matches old, his omission in a recent ODI in Sharjah was criticized universally. Ladies and gentleman, the next big thing: 19 year old Umar Akmal.

I am normally loathe to make such grandiose pronunciations, but in Umar Akmal, Pakistan really seems to have found the genuine article. Elder brother and incumbent wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal- arguably one of the more technically correct batsmen in the line-up- is no mug with the bat either, but Umar seems destined for greater things. The century on debut, two days ago, was laudable enough for its statistical worth, but the manner in which the runs were scored was equally important. Much as South Africa’s J. P. Duminy oozes class, Umar Akmal exudes an aura of confidence. However, where this confidence has often bordered on bravado with someone like Shahid Afridi, Umar’s brand is more restrained. With the young Afridi, the confidence was as much his weakness as it was his strength- not so with Umar Akmal. At the age of 19, Umar Akmal seems to play the bowler more often than the bowler plays him. In addition, Akmal possesses a range of weapons- he plays the cut, the drive and the pull with equal proficiency. In fact, the closest comparison does seem to be a young Sachin Tendulkar- terrifyingly belligerent and deathly calm at the same time. So captivating was Umar’s counter-offensive (in partnership with his brother, I might add) in Dunedin that I had little time for India’s concurrent blitzkreig in Kanpur. I had watched Umar’s heroics in a few limited overs games, but test cricket is an entirely different ballgame, especially when your team has collapsed to 87 for 5. Barring a couple of early chances- excusable, given the mood that Shane Bond was in- Umar exemplified the best qualities of Pakistan cricket: a never-say-die spirit and plenty of derring-do. If Pakistan goes on to win the match today, as well they might, much will be owed to Umar Akmal.

It is early days yet- in more technical terms, the sample size is too small to make a reliable judgment on Umar Akmal. He has less than 15 international matches under his belt (see below), with a mouth-watering second test innings only expected tonight. At the same time, statistics don’t tell the entire story- its part of the reason why I am still unsure as to the methodological basis that I want to adopt in my own research. Numbers tell a lot of things, but they serve to obscure many others. The record books will show that Sachin Tendulkar scored a century on his first Australian tour in Perth, while they will also register his somnolent 100 last week in Ahmedabad. Two similar scores, meaning entirely different things, at aesthetic extremes. In an attempt to eke out as much meaning as possible, statistics can often be self defeating; this issue lies at the heart of the problem in comparing athletes across generations. A run is not the same as a run, an economical spell of quick bowling is not the same as an economical spell of quick bowling. Statistics have their uses, but at times, we need to throw them out of the window because they are far too impersonal…soulless…and strangely enough, uninformative. Umar Akmal scored 129 of 160 balls, but the meaning of that innings? Cricket purists know that the meaning is far, far more than those numbers indicate.

Umar Akmal's stats, as of November 27th, 2009.

So I propose that we throw caution to the winds, prudence by the wayside and stick our necks out to declare: Umar Akmal is the next big thing. Those who view the glass as half empty may point out that the next Sachin Tendulkar could just as easily be the next Vinod Kambli. Perhaps…at the same time, if you were a betting man, which predicted path would you place your money on right now?

Thats what I thought.

Addendum (November 28th, 2009): In talking about Pakistan’s young guns, I forgot to mention the exciting 17-year old Mohammad Aamer, on whose shoulders the Pakistani chase currently rests. The Akmal brothers had a useful partnership again, before they both fell (Umar for a patient, studied 75 of 174 balls). Umar’s innings was marked in its contrast to his enterprising knock in the first innings, underscoring the versatility of this young man. Aamer and Ajmal still remain, with 48 runs to get and 2 wickets in hand. It wasn’t too long ago that this pair put on a sensational last-wicket stand to nearly achieve the impossible; I suggest turning to the match ASAP.

Tuesday evening, while I am in office I was extremely disappointed for not catching the bowling of Sreesanth, surely not to see his antics but to watch his bowling. He is a troubled kid in cricket arena but I love his bowling action, from that beautiful run-up to delivery stride, those seamed up deliveries and lovely out-swingers. He can be thrashed for those wayward deliveries he bowls now and then but still I enjoy watching him. In India, very few fast bowlers have the perfect run-up. Kapil Dev had that, Srinath had that, Zaheer have that and then Sreesanth. I like Agarkar’s but its not the perfect one for a fast bowler.

It’s the year of 2005. India cricket team is searching for the fast bowling talent. With Zaheer nursing injuries, out of shape and out of form, Nehra too out due to injury and Agarkar out of squad for his waywardness the selectors search handed them 2 fresh talents in their hands: Santhakumaran Sreesanth and Rudra Pratap Singh. Both were young and basically swing and rhythm bowlers.

How he got into the team?

The news is in the air that Sreesanth has trapped Sachin in front in the challenger trophy 2005. He was also the highest wicket taker and man of the series in that series earned the much awaited national cap for him. He debuted against Srilanka in 2005. In that bilateral series he has bowled with lot of pace and less accuracy. But he has been among the wickets. Moreover, he has own the confidence of then coach Greg Chappell, who ran the show. But he didn’t attract me due to his waywardness. Actually it is R.P.Singh who attracted me straight away with his clean run-up and his ability to swing the ball into right hand batsmen. But Sreesanth has always got the nod above RP. My heart always will go to RP for not being in the team and more than that its Sreesanth who holds it.

When it all changed??

It was the tour of South Africa which changed my perception about Sreesanth. He ran in hard, beautiful wrist and seam position, making the ball to cut both the ways, he made inroads into the South African batting line-up in the first test and India won the first test in SA soil. The much talked about aspect of the Sreesanth’s ability is his wrist position and perfect seam. With that perfect seam he makes the ball to move in and out and kept the batsmen guessing.

The MRF pace foundation’s bowling coach T A Sekhar then said,

“I have not seen anybody bowling with such beautiful seam. The only time I have seen it was when Zaheer was at his peak”.

The Golden run….

Sreesanth has got a permanent place in the Indian team and was part of the Dhoni’s young brigade till April, 2008. Until that period he has some nerve-cracking moments like holding on to the catch of Misbah-ul-Haq as India laid their hands on the inaugural T20 world cup and then the face off with Australia in Australia winning the triangular series. He has lost his temper and control completely over those days but not his pace and his ability to hit the seam.

Trouble and more trouble..

And then he lost his place in the Indian team due to injury and when he was started to play again public started to remember him more for his antics on and off the field, from the dance on field after hitting the six off Andre Nel, slapping incident between him and Bhajji, those antics he does before bowling every delivery, staring at the batsmen for a nothing delivery and then the way he ran around after bowling Dhoni at the last IPL.

The comeback – its by tomorrow……

Rangana Herath took 5-122 as India amassed 642, but his efforts came to nothing as India skittled Sri Lanka twice to record an innings victory in Kanpur.

Sri Lanka initially recovered well from losing Tillekaratne Dilshan first ball but were skittled for 229 in 84 overs, with nobody contributing a half-century; five of India’s side reached that total with three – Gambhir, Sehwag, and Dravid - converting to big hundreds.

Harbajhan Singh celebrates bowling Prasanna Jayawardene en route to a big win in Kanpur

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni predictably chose to enforce the follow-on with his side 413 runs ahead, but the tourists improved only marginally on their first effort.

Thilan Samaweera top scored in the second innings with an unbeaten 78 from 123 balls, but wickets fell around him at regular intervals. Harbajhan Singh took 3-98 from 22 overs and Pragyan Ojha picked up 2-36 to finish with tidy match figures of 4-73.

India go into the final test in Mumbai next week 1-0 ahead.

ICC has announced the matches for the 2011 WC. ICC has aimed for the shorter WC and the Super-8 group has been replaced by the old method Quarter-Finals. 14 teams have been split into 2 groups and a team has to end in the top 4 in the group to get to the Quater-Finals, after which the tournaments becomes a knock-out stage. The matches to be played in Pakistan has to shifted to Sri Lanka. Pakistan will play all their matches in Sri Lanka, however they will be welcomed to India if they reach the finals.

The teams are -

Group A – Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada, Kenya.

Group B – India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands.

Indian matches are as follows,

Feb 19 – India vs Bangladesh – Mirpur
Feb 27 – India vs England – Kolkata
Mar 6 – India vs Ireland – Bangalore
Mar 9 – India vs Netherlands – Delhi
Mar 12 – India vs South Africa – Nagpur
Mar 20 – India vs West Indies – Chennai

Quarter finals – Mar 23 (Mirpur), 24 (Colombo), 25 (Mirpur), 26 (Ahmedabad)
Semi finals – Mar 29 (Colombo), 30 (Mohali)
Finals – Apr 2 (Mumbai)

Matches at Chennai:

Feb 20 – Kenya vs New Zealand
Mar 6 – England vs South Africa
Mar 17 – England vs West Indies
Mar 20 – India vs West Indies

What a comeback by Shanthakumaran Sreesanth! The last we saw of him was in 2008 during the Test against South Africa at Kanpur, the same ground where he has now impressed everyone with his comeback. He is reported to have thought of giving up hopes of playing for India and nothing can change his mind and put him on the road to redemption more than the magic spell he weaved in the first innings.

But look at the way Sreesanth’s feat is projected by the media. Is it necessary to keep raising the issue of ‘Slapgate’ more than a year after it has been done and dusted with? Some newspaper reported the camaraderie between Sree and Harbhajan as ‘From slap on the face to pat on the back’. This is what is sensationalism. Now whatever feats Sree achieves in the next few years will always have the term ‘Slapgate’ attached to it. Will some true cricket fan give a tight slap on the face of the media ?

Now for some IPL related stuff. The organisers have come out with a new rule which states that any ball pitched above waist height would be called a no-ball. As if free hits are not enough, bowlers now have to put up with this nonsensical rule. Even free hits have helped bowlers be careful with their run-ups but what does this rule seek to achieve? It means that there will be no more ‘one-for-the-over’ bouncers. A handy weapon will have to be done away with for about a month. Now the likes of Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma will not get any bouncers to contend with in the IPL. Instead they get an opportunity to pile up runs in front of a hapless bowler. Then when they go into the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, they find themselves exposed and vulnerable to the short ball. While franchise owners have reported differences against the proposed re-auctioning of players in 2011, it surprises me that no IPL captain, not even Anil Kumble, has raised his voice against the nonsensical rule.

Indibloggies have nominated this blog as one of the best sports blogs in India for this year.

If you are a frequent visitor here and you think this blog is any good, then go here and vote for me in the “Sports” section.

The Bangor Tavern Cricket Club’s B5 team completely dominated the game last Saturday when they played Cronulla Seagulls at Corea Oval.

Go to the Galleries link to check out the other photos and video clips of the game.

The Bangor Tavern bowlers dominated the game

Daggers won’t be out if we say that Sreesanth was the architect-in-chief for the facile Indian win at Kanpur. The statement turns more authentic considering the nicety to which the pitch behaved, throwing any doubts over its longevity out of the window. The Sri Lankan collapse in both the innings had more to do with lack of application from their batsmen and the quality of Indian bowling, rather than the wicket’s conduct.

A win for India was assured but how much time it would take coming wasn’t. That was the mindset with which proceedings began on day 4. Zaheer’s bounce-them-out plan worked one more time for him. Mathews became his latest prey when he fended off a rib-crasher and Dravid lunged forward to take the catch at backward point.

The Sri Lankan batsmen took an offensive approach on the fourth morning, as there wasn’t much to gain through defence, with two days remaining.  While the tactic did produce quick runs, it also meant that India were in with a chance to pick wickets regularly. A defiant 61-run sixth wicket partnership between Samaraweera and Prasanna was broken when Bhajji sneaked one through Prasanna’s defences to rattle the stumps. Six down and out came Sri Lanka’s tail.

The highlight of tailenders’ antics was Murali’s 11-ball cameo of 29 after Herath’s dismissal, which was punctuated with three fours and two sixes. Ojha finally succeeded in sending him back to bring Mendis in. Samaraweera was enjoying his best time in the series but for a lost cause. At first, he tried to shield Mendis but finally showed confidence in him to share strike.

Mendis reciprocated his senior’s trust and annoyed the Indians by delaying the impending doom. The longer he batted, the more disappointment it brought to Sri Lanka’s top order that failed twice. His stint reflected there was nothing in the pitch to be wary of. The partnership was competent to the point that Dhoni had to resort to the part-timers Tendulkar and Yuvraj. To his credit, the change worked and Yuvraj removed Mendis leg before wicket after a 73-run ninth wicket stand.  Ojha was brought back to bring forth India’s 100th Test win. He responded to the skipper’s call and got his team home with a return catch from Welegedara.

The dismissal led to ecstatic scenes on and off the ground. The debutant pulled out a stump as souvenir and there were congratulations and handshakes all around.  It was Dhoni’s sixth win out of nine Tests as skipper and put an end to Sangakkara’s unbeaten record as captain. The win, by an inning and 144 runs, was India’s biggest against Sri Lanka and third biggest overall.

It was a special match for Sreesanth as well. He came back amidst a lot of raised eyebrows but answered all the question about his inclusion. Rahul Dravid needs a special mention too, not for his second hundred on the trot but for the way he continues to show his uncharacteristic but pleasing attacking skills in this series. Gautam Gambhir is now already an established name in world’s most fearsome and consistent openers. The Delhi batsman will be sorely missed in the final Test at Mumbai, owing to his sister’s marriage. Ojha impressed too in his debut and is surely the first-choice left-armer in the country.

Sri Lanka can’t win the series now but still have a chance to level it. However, the Mumbai wicket has traditionally helped spinners a lot and if the familiar orange-tinged pitch is presented, the Lankan batsmen will have their task cut out against Indian spinners who seem to be coming into their own on the back of a potent new-ball attack.

Finally a thumping victory for the India. Their 100th in Tests.
India played first Test match in 1932-33 and won their first game in 1952 against England.

Sri Lanka lost by One inning and 144 runs. This is India’s biggest victory against Sri Lanka. India’s previous best against their neighbors was a victory by an innings and 119 runs in 1994. This is India’s third large victory. Other two ares:Inning and 239 runs against Bangladesh in 2007 & Inning and 219 runs against Australia in 1998.

S Sreesanth is the man of the match. Who took 6 wickets in the match. Harbhajan tok 3 wickets in second inning. Samaraweera scored highests (78 not out) in Sri Lankan inning. This test match ended on the 4th Day.

Virtually India is on the Second position in Test Matches, but as per the rules from ICC official announcement will be only after the series. India require at least a draw in the next test to remain on the Second position.

Dhoni as a Captain won his 6th Test match out of 9. Other three were draw.

With the century at Kanpur Gautam Gambhir became only 3rd batsmen for India to have scored 4 consecutive 100 in test matches.

It’s all happening in the cricketing world. The latest introduction of IPL and its extension Champions league have been tremendously successful. So, what triggered such overwhelming towards IPL? My guess is, it’s ‘plain old marketing‘. Let me explain what it means:

•  Firstly, IPL is not the greatest idea ever conceptualized. What is new about IPL?

Q: Is it the first ever Domestic/International cricket league? Answer: A big NO.

 The English Cricket league (or the domestic cricket championship played in Britain) is the prototype for all other cricket leagues. When I say a ‘league’, I mean a tournament in which the teams that play are different clubs and the players are of different nationalities. When we compare the leagues across all the sports, i think (not sure) EPL is the oldest.

 Even the rebel league World Series Cricket introduced commercially by Kerry Packer in the late 70’s was a huge success. Agreed that it was a rebel league aimed at money making. But in terms of attracting talent, it succeeded.

 In India also, there has always been the club cricket played be it in a small scale apart from the BCCI run domestic tournaments like ranaji trophy and duleep trophy among others.

 In short, the point that I intend to make is that league/club cricket existed from times immemorial.

•  Secondly, even though the promoters say IPL is not restricted to T20 format, it still remains a fact that T20 cricket is the greatest boost for IPL.

Q: Is T20 cricket the brainchild of IPL or BCCI? Answer: Again a big NO.

 As it has happened many times in history, not always the inventor gets the credit. The most famous being the case with the invention of the electric bulb among others. Edison is always given the credit for inventing the electric bulb, but it is a well documented fact that he is not the inventor but he is the person who converted the invention into a commercially viable product.

 Similar is the case with T20 cricket. It is the English cricket (ECB to be specific) who were responsible for the invention (I guess ‘introduction’ instead of ‘invention’ might be a better word to use) of T20 cricket. The ECB, desperate to improve the popularity of cricket in England, came up with the very innovative idea of 20-20 cricket and coined the term T20 for it. And it was a brilliant idea that became an instant success domestically. But the ECB made a big mistake by not capturing the T20 success and promote it in a big way (big way- I mean internationally). As admitted by many top officials of ECB, it invested too much doing research in ‘how best’ to take it forward instead of acting immediately and making it big event before someone else captured the moment. 

 As many of us remember, initially BCCI opposed to the idea of 20-20 cricket. They acted as the ‘holy cow’ of cricket saying that it would damage the ’soul’ of cricket by destroying test cricket. (Ironically it is India that was playing less number of test matches and more number of 50-50 cricket because it is considered more commercial).

 In short, the point that I intend to make is that 20-20 cricket was never really the idea of BCCI.

 So What triggered the success of IPL?

 As I told in the beginning, it is purely ‘good marketing’ rather than a ‘big idea’. The main man behind the success of IPL, its commissioner, Lalit Modi had revealed many facts that he thinks triggered the success in an interview to Vir Sanghvi.

 One of the important points that he says is that of the studies he did about the European football leagues’ business model and the flaws in it. He points out: 70 per cent of a team’s expenses went not on buying players but on maintaining stadiums. In the UK, Manchester United and other teams own their stadiums. As they play at home a maximum of 30 days a year, the stadium is unused for the other 335. It is this unproductive asset that burns the biggest hole in balance sheets.

 Studying this pattern, Lalit came to the conclusion that a league would only work if the BCCI allowed team owners to play in its stadiums for free. That way, the teams would not be landed with unproductive assets.

 He also points out: that the best way to ensure a relatively level playing field was to control the way in which players were auctioned among teams and to deny team owners the ability to buy players in the open market.

 So, after making some smart moves and good marketing, Modi made sure that IPL was a success. Even his decision to move the IPL2 to South Africa came in as a blessing in disguise as it ensured that a) It was not a one-time-wonder. b) Established his control over decision making and showed that he can go to any extent and will not bend to others.

Finally, to conclude, it seems that Modi and his marketing are making all the right moves as of now. Kudos to him!!!!!!!

The best outcome of this Test — besides India notching up a win, of course, and keeping its home record against Sri Lanka intact — was the naming of Shantakumaran Sreesanth as man of the match.

Too often, adjudicators tend to be seduced by batting performances, and in this game it could be argued that either Sehwag or Gambhir, or both, should get the nod for setting the base for the big Indian score that broke Sri Lanka’s confidence and caused the visitors to implode twice in course of two days of playing time. Recognizing that on a pitch with nothing much to offer bowlers, Sree set the win up with his five-for merits applause.

Hopefully the award, and his performance over all, will finally teach the youngster the lesson that if he focuses on the bowling, and not on antics, he has a future yet, in an Indian team that badly needs good seam bowling options.

From a Lankan perspective, the stat that jumps out at me is this: the ninth wicket partnership between Thilan Samaraweera, currently top of the list for most Test runs in this calendar year, and Ajantha Mendis managed 73 runs in just under 20 overs [19.3 overs, actually] at a healthy 3.74.

It showed that for all the hype of a wicket that was “doing things”, batting remained easy. But what was really remarkable about that partnership is this: it was the second most substantial one for Sri Lanka in both innings combined; next only to the 82 runs added by Paranavitana and Sangakkara in 29.1 overs for the second wicket, after Tillekaratne Dilshan had perished to the first ball of the Lankan first innings.

As an indictment of the Lankan approach to batting in this game, that one fact tells the whole story; underlining it is the related fact that Sangakkara’s needless drive at a widish ball from Sreesanth that gave the bowler the first of his five-for signaled the beginning of the end for the visitors.

This game should have been a draw, but Lanka at no point showed bottle for the fight.

Enough said, till the contest resumes in three days at the DY Patil Stadium Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, some weekend homework: check out the nominated bloggers for the Indibloggies, and support the deserving with your votes.

Sreesanth is back and boy what a return. A performance devoid of any of his trademark histrionics and backed by only his flair. There isn’t much doubt that he is by far the most talented bowler in India. It was just his over-the-top dramatics rather than his aggression on the field made him infamous.  The media too wasn’t fair. Recently in one of the programs in a very popular channel co-hosted by a tainted ex-cricketer who has admitted to have acted in a flop movie passed a comment that Sreesanth was selected purely on his merit – dancing, not bowling. It seems Sreesanth danced his heart out at one of the selector’s wedding. So?

I must confess I am not a fan of Sreesanth and I can’t stand his fake aggression but I like the way he bowls and beats the bat of batsmen innumerable times. To this day I cherish his out-of-the-world delivery to clean up Cameron White in the first season of IPL. I want him to be Alan Donald not Andre Nel or best of all – just be Sreesanth we saw yesterday.

playing @ University Oval, Dunedin, 27/11/09. Photos taken from the Scotsman Stand (ie. peering through the fence outside the ground).

Pakistani Skipper Mohammad Yousuf + insane beard.

Aussie umpire, Simon Taufel. On his way to the boundary where a kid just got hit in the scone by a six from Taylor.

Tim McIntosh.

The slip cordon.

Drinks break. Riveting.

Mohammad Asif.

Gambhir has seven hundreds and seven fifties and just one single-digit score in his last 25 innings © AFP

Gambhir is in the form of his life, 27 Tests having produced eight centuries. It’s the kind of start Andrew Strauss had, and indeed, for someone who goes through form swings Strauss has an extraordinary conversion rate of a century every 3.7 Tests (which is identical to Sachin Tendulkar’s conversion)! Gambhir currently scores a century every 3.4 Tests and averages almost 57. But it is in the last 16 months, really, that his career has taken off. In 25 innings he has seven centuries and seven half-centuries for an average of 77, and just as strikingly, has only one single-digit score. Followers of Test cricket, and they are still a pretty substantial number, will rub their hands in glee at figures like those.

And yet Gambhir is not one steeped in orthodoxy, or indeed limited by the format he currently excels in. An outstanding CB Series campaign in Australia last year marked him out as someone special, and I have little doubt that if there were to be an IPL auction today, he would be on top of everybody’s shortlist. To that extent he is like the good old music director in the movies: not quite the classicist but equally at home with the raga and the remix, the folk song and the peppy dance number. And that is where he is creating a large gap between himself and other new-age cricketers like Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, whose infatuation with the short game is limiting their progress in other forms.

SREE  (santh) has turned out to be the unlikely hero with his decimation of

SRI Lanka .

Finally good sense seems to have been drilled into his head and his stint with Alan Donald seems to have helped him . He is now less keen on his antics and tantrums and more focussed on his game …