Some results(-worma)
Quite an eventful day in terms of non-international results...so I thought of putting them in single place...and in perspective.
Firstly SL team lost their practice match to MCA President's XI...which was significantly weaker than the regular Mumbai team (some of the regulars are playing in Duleep trophy match, some in camp, while it seems some other regulars like Kambli etc were rested?).
From what I could understand from the score....the SL batsmen seem to have got a scratchy start after Jayasurya pulled out midway due to injury(the SL batsmen have, in general, been struggling right from the start of this season, and it seems to be happening here as well. We threw away some initiative in the Indian Oil Cup after nailing them, lets see if we can make it count this time)
The SL bowling was not really bad, considering their 3 frontline ODI bowlers Vaas, Murali and Jayasurya were missing from the attack. Zoysa and Mahroof, likely to be in their squad for match 1, did well while Fernando didn't. The support bowlers were, understandably, not as restrictive as they are at home.
But atleast the MCA team didn't let the SL team enjoy a good comfortable game. In that sense, bound to have some impact on the series starter...atleast in terms of SL confidence levels
The other results...East Zone's 100+ lead turned out to be enough to earn them a comfortable victory.
In the other match, South Zone couldnt build a defendable lead, despite Laxman and Badani threatnening to do that at a point. Laxman finally made 67, Badani 47 n.o. But more significantly, Zaheer took 6 wickets. Looks like he's working well on his improvement. Hope he puts his head down for a few more matches and is back to his best by the time we play our test series, because I feel in home tests we may need him much more than ODIs.
At the end of the day, South Zone was still fighting in defense of their 103 runs lead. Balaji once again picked a couple of quick wickets. Its turning out to be a significant match for him as well. Like Khan, I hope he also continues his fight..back into his best form.
Firstly SL team lost their practice match to MCA President's XI...which was significantly weaker than the regular Mumbai team (some of the regulars are playing in Duleep trophy match, some in camp, while it seems some other regulars like Kambli etc were rested?).
From what I could understand from the score....the SL batsmen seem to have got a scratchy start after Jayasurya pulled out midway due to injury(the SL batsmen have, in general, been struggling right from the start of this season, and it seems to be happening here as well. We threw away some initiative in the Indian Oil Cup after nailing them, lets see if we can make it count this time)
The SL bowling was not really bad, considering their 3 frontline ODI bowlers Vaas, Murali and Jayasurya were missing from the attack. Zoysa and Mahroof, likely to be in their squad for match 1, did well while Fernando didn't. The support bowlers were, understandably, not as restrictive as they are at home.
But atleast the MCA team didn't let the SL team enjoy a good comfortable game. In that sense, bound to have some impact on the series starter...atleast in terms of SL confidence levels
The other results...East Zone's 100+ lead turned out to be enough to earn them a comfortable victory.
In the other match, South Zone couldnt build a defendable lead, despite Laxman and Badani threatnening to do that at a point. Laxman finally made 67, Badani 47 n.o. But more significantly, Zaheer took 6 wickets. Looks like he's working well on his improvement. Hope he puts his head down for a few more matches and is back to his best by the time we play our test series, because I feel in home tests we may need him much more than ODIs.
At the end of the day, South Zone was still fighting in defense of their 103 runs lead. Balaji once again picked a couple of quick wickets. Its turning out to be a significant match for him as well. Like Khan, I hope he also continues his fight..back into his best form.
posted by worma at
9:44 AM
16 Comments:
I read the last part of the commentary on cricinfo and guess what - in the SL game, the last ball was actually a no ball and there was a single! How could he give up a no ball in such a close game??
By
RPM, at 10:42
bouncer...GC hasn't worked enough with RD...so we dont know how that will turn out...or whats the equation there(so who's incharge of what..or who has a say)...but yeah sure GC speaking to media that Santh is going to open in the matches he plays...thats a bit surprising. Because RD hasn't even seen Santh bowl in Challenger...leave alone discussing the strategy with GC.
But...that said...since RD and VS are not there...that obviously should not stop the preperation work....hence GC (in understanding with SRT I hope) is working on some of these things, it would seem. What say?
There are couple of days for the team to 'finalise' such issues in Nagpur before the match....lets see how it goes there.
But one thing's obvious....and its due to the personality of RD and GC...that GC is the more 'extrovert' of the two....so we're gonna see a lot more of him in the 'front'.....shouldn't be used as an exact indicator of how things work in the background
By
worma, at 11:50
prem....that media manager is again for a couple of series....I wonder if they would make a permanent one some time. But I think SRT's suggestion has been taken well by BCCI (and maybe they also realised how imp media manager is to avoid the media mixups that happened recently).
But whats the Nimbus news....link to the story...anyone?
Anyways...see you on Monday Prem...chill out.
By
worma, at 11:58
Ppl
great show by the mumbai boys - even tho murali and vaas were missing - it has given india a big boost ahead of the series - if nothing else, it has definitely proved that india has a fair chance in the series
By
Gaurav, at 12:08
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
By
Gaurav, at 12:09
@mount
yes i did see that - i dont think AA is included tho - JP is - then again can we really trust this kind of sensation-seeking channel ?
By
Gaurav, at 12:18
All
if channel 7 is to be believed this is what the team will be like
GG
VS
SRT
RD
YS
MD
JP
IP
MK
HS
SS
possibly AA as supersub tho this was not suggested by the channel
By
Gaurav, at 12:21
bouncer..yes sure I also hope so, as I said earlier...otherwise it would be a shock for RD if he finds out that not only has the position of key players...but the entire team has been given out to media before it reached him :-)
But I dont think this 'team sheet' is true.....sure it can turn out to be close....as can many of us, doing some intelligent guesswork, arrive at it. But I dont think Indian team decides (or any team decides) the playing XI so much in advance...and then writes it down on paper etc.
I wonder if this is a new mindgame trick from GC? Buchanan style (remember instruction sheet to players landing under wrong hotel doors by 'mistake')
By
worma, at 12:48
bouncer....as far as team 'decisions' are concerned....the only one which GC has gone public with is SS opening the bowling(if he gets to play). Any others also? I may have missed...
By
worma, at 13:02
gk's post:
"All
if channel 7 is to be believed this is what the team will be like
GG
VS
SRT
RD
YS
MD
JP
IP
MK
HS
SS"
MD? Please help me here.
No Rao or Raina? That is surprising.I had chosen AA in place of one of spinners and had Rao/Raina in the middle order with JP as super sub.
By
Chandan, at 13:19
MD = Mahendra Singh Dhoni
yeah ... i wud have played rao and agarkar too ... and no karthik ... but then im not sure if we can trust channel 7
By
Gaurav, at 13:27
bouncer..I meant GC going out in public on behalf of the 'team' in absence of RD....in that respect I think that Santh statement is the only example.
Easing SRT into opening role is more of a generic statement as what he feels as a coach....and I think he could have easily said this in presence of RD..
About Laxman...well that was something he did as a coach...that was *his* job...whether right or wrong. Whether there was SG or RD in the selection meeting..coach's views on selection(which selectors ask for) are independent.
By
worma, at 15:48
bouncer..in agreement with what you saying...that there's a perceptible change (and if not all have perceived it yet, they will)...I repeat what I said earlier "But one thing's obvious....and its due to the personality of RD and GC...that GC is the more 'extrovert' of the two....so we're gonna see a lot more of him in the 'front'.....shouldn't be used as an exact indicator of how things work in the background"
..as for media...they will go to whomever can give them their quota of bites....and GC is the man....as I said long time back on this blog (long before the whole blow-up) and duely got flamed for it, I feel that GC's method of working involves a lot of media interaction etc (a lot more than what I would like to see which is not necesarily as little as Wright did. I mean he had less interaction with media in his entire duration than what GC had had in few months of this tenure!)...but this does not necessarily mean he's bad as a coach....its just a different style...thats all. Probably that may suit RD who may actually *like* to work in the background? We dont know yet....lets see
but this is not the first equation of this kind....I think Pak also has a similar equation between Woolmer and Inzy..and it fits their nature (although Woolmer is not as 'front end' person as GC, IMO)
By
worma, at 16:24
indcric...well is Sanath has to fire...he will against all opponents....I like the idea of Santh as a surprise element...atleast worth a shot. And mind you...its not just a surprise for the heck of it...he seems to be good enough...its not as if we are asking JP to open bowling to Sanath ;-)
Besides this....I am not yet ready to give the channel 7 team much credence.....in my opinion two spinners is overkill if we play 4 bowlers only (not including JP)....if we have 5 bowlers in playing XII then there can be two spinners. Now how and when to get them into XI is another tough issue.
By
worma, at 16:57
Vishy was brilliant for more than just a small window in the 70's. From the time of his debut in '69 to ~'77-78 he was simply terrific. I agree, too much beer (or maybe scotch)did him in.
I also think Gavaskar was a terrific player but unfortunately he did not play for the team and he did not play to win. It seemed like he played for a draw in every match ! This kind of loser mentality from such a legendary cricker bred a whole generation of loser mentality crickers (the Vengsarkar, Manjrekar, Arun Lal type of players) and this changed only during Ganguly's time.
Gavaskar is not the only one guilty of bringing forth mediocre Mumbai/Maharashtra players... hey Tendulkar did exactly the same, remember Kambli's extended run and how about Kanitkar !!!
By
RandomThoughts, at 01:39
patel definitely deserves another chance - no doubt about it. Unfortunately he screwed up too badly in his last few games and I think he has only come out of massive hole he dug for himself. While Kartik has not messed up as badly as Patlebehind the stumps he has also not done anything eye catching. Patel would certainly be a better contributor with the bat. It will take a long time for Patel to be back unless Dhoni and Kartik are both sidleined due to injury. Dravid i snot really a huge fan of Patel's keeping, did you notice how he yelled at him for dropping a sitter and also notice that there has been almost no communication between Patel and Dravid which is unusal for a keeper and first slip fieldsman.
By
RandomThoughts, at 21:43
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