Let's talk Cricket

 India is touring Bangladesh for 3 ODI's before the start of the Big test against England. The dates of the matches are 15, 17 and 19 June. Dhoni and Kohli have made themselves unavailable for this series which opens the gate for a captain, a new player and a wicket-keeper.  The selectors will be watching the IPL and they must have seen the recent domestic season and based on that the 15 man squad will be decided. Time for some players to make a comeback and prove their worth in the team. Virender Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh have shown some form in this years IPL. Sehwag is yet to fire but he has shown some glimpses of how dangerous he could be once he gets going. The major disappointment in this years IPL has been Shikhar Dhawan. He was out of form in the World T20 2014 too. The selectors sure will be looking forward towards Robin Uthappa as the replacement for a wicket keeper batsman, who is having an awesome IPL this year so far for the KKR. There will be no surprises i...

 The KXIP (Kings XI Punjab) are on a high. The two players who have been very special in thier team are Maxwell and Miller. Both these players have proven to be equal to gold in this years IPL. Glenn Maxwell, who has the orange cap has missed out 4 opportunities to score a hundred, but he is selfless cricketer and thinks as a team and not for himself.   Lets talk about Miller first. 66 off 29 in the last game. over 250+ runs in this years IPL, this guy likes to play in the 'V' i.e. straight, long on, long off, mid-wicket and extra cover regions. Doesn't play much square of the wicket. If I was Gautam Gambhir in today's match, I would have picked Morkel, Kallis and Yadav against Miller. Ask them to bowl 3 out 6 bouncers, not short balls but bouncers. Don't allow him to get down the track and bang you. Try to make him play in the region where is not so comfortable with, i.e. behind and square. With the bouncer, that becomes easy. But on subcontinent, bowling a bounce...

  Yesterday, when the KXIP were batting, You saw two innings- one from Maxwell, which was a power packed innings with some unorthodox hitting. After his wicket, you saw an innings from the KXIP skipper George Bailey who except those last two sixes, played an innings which you got to say was smart innings. Now, Glenn Maxwell is a type of a batsman who likes it heave it over mid wicket and he knows that he will clear the field. He just backs himself against the spinners. While Bailey, yesterday played so smartly that he scored at a strike rate of over 300 without really hitting any power packed stroke. He was looking for the gaps. He played 13 deliveries and out of that 8 disappeared to the boundary (6 fours and 2 sixes). He exactly knew where the fielders are and adjusted his play according to it with perfect timing. He chipped one over the mid off fielder for 4, for me that was the best shot. He played a scoop when the fine leg is inside the circle. He chipped over cover because ...

Well what happened yesterday between Pollard and Starc, wasn't good in the spirit of the game. Emotions running high and losing temper, both the players. The question arises, is cricket really a gentleman's game anymore?   It was started by Starc when he sledged Pollard after he was beaten by a bouncer. Pollard said go back to your bowling mark and bowl the next ball by hand gestures. It should have stopped there. But no, Pollard on purpose left the next delivery coming from Starc and Starc got angry and directed the bowl towards Pollard who had moved towards the leg side. Pollard lost his cool and wanting to throw the bat towards Starc, fortunately the bat slipped through his hands. Umpires came in between, the captain Virat Kohli came in and Pollard started some explanation. The matter got solved. I think both players are equally criminals in this scene. Starc started it and Pollard should have stopped but no, he continues it. I feel action should be taken on both player...

  Yesterday in KKR vs RR match, Andre Russel delivered a variation which I guess no-one would have thought of it before?   Completely fooled the batsman there. He was seeming as if he he was not going to deliver the ball and suddenly the ball comes out and it is considered legal! The batsman, Watson looked surprised and so was I.   According to me, Russel cheated. You cannot fool a batsman like this. I mean cricket is a gentleman's game. These cheap tricks should not be allowed. It should have been a dead ball.  Now, many people started arguing that the batsman also fools the bowler sometimes by playing shots via switch hit and moving in the crease. For me, I think there are variations like the slower delivery, short ball etc. for these strokes to be avoided. And not all batsman have success in hitting these kind of shots. I have only seen Ab De Villiers, Maxwell, Warner, Peitersen and Sachin Tendulkar do that. While what Russel did could be done by any bowler. Yest...

Sorry followers, no more IPL posts.! Will now concentrate on the BIG test i.e India vs England in July.! Goodbye! :)

   Today, it's the match between CSK and KKR.    The CSK ( Chennai Super Kings ). After losing their first game to KXIP, the CSK have comeback well winning 4 out of 4. Looking a good confident side lead by arguably the best captain MSD. Smith and McCullum have provided good starts and this opening pair is the best in this year's tournament. Bowling has been beautiful. Ben hilfenhaus has performed well along with mohit and Ishwar. Nehra might be bighting his nails off for a match, but I am not sure he's gonna get one. Dhoni has shifted his bowlers well. Suresh Raina, Mr. Ipl already has a 50 in this tournament but the CSK fans will love him to play big. Dhoni has finished off beautifully. So a formidable looking side this, are the favorites to win today's match. All are missing the bravo celebration. Get well soon. I will go with no changes from the last match. Why to change the winning combination? Player to watch out for is Suresh Raina.    Now, The ...