4 Cricket matches, 3 Birthday parties, 2 Weddings and a Funeral

Last 2 weeks in April and beginning of May this year happened to be long holiday weekend(s) for most people in the UK. Last week it was Good Friday with Easter bank holiday Monday and this week it was 'Royal wedding' (on Friday the 29th) with Mayday bank holiday Monday. Three days of annual leave would guarantee an easy 11 day holiday (seven days annual leave would give a 17 day break!). This happens very rarely in UK (other than during the Christmas/New year time). It was also the hottest April month in last 100 years!

I watched IPL, which has been a mixed bag for the team from Kerala- the Kochi Tuskers. They had lost the last 3 games in dramatic fashion and today was the fourth match, which they had to win to be in contention for the play-off's. It was the most bizzare game that was played with Delhi dare-devils due to various reasons; but the one thing which stays in mind is that how many runs can you give off a single delivery? This was the fifth ball of Umesh Yadav's first over. First he bowled a wide delivery - a high bouncer (an extra run), then his beamer flew for a six (that was above waist high for Brendon McCullum whose stylish reflexes made the ball fly over fine leg for a maximum- now 1+1+6) before he finally managed to bowl a legal delivery that McCullum crash-pulled over the midwicket boundary i.e. 1+1+6+6=14 runs! Anyway the match was won by the Tuskers.

The Royal Wedding was fantastic. We watched the whole programme live on tele and it felt really nice. Kate and William appeared to be a couple in love. I wish their married life is happy and successful. The wedding was truly royal- the systematic arrival of guests, the elegant arrival of Kate (now the Duchess of Cambridge), the church service, the journey of the newly weds back to the palace, the drive in Aston Martin and the finale was the Balcony kiss. The whole world (some 2 billion) watched the whole show directed from London displaying the pomp and lavishness that Britain does so well. It was like a fairy tale come true to many people sealed with a kiss. I would say it was like 'love in time of cholera!'

We went to Durham for the seventh annual day celebrations of 'Sruthi' on Sunday (30th) It was an authentic malayali cultural evening (as always). The highlight was the tribute of UK malayalees to ONV Kurup, who was recently awarded the 'jnanapitam', the highest literary honour given in India. It was a fantastic evening of 'ONVmayam' that included "Kavyadrishyangal"- a unique portrayal of woman and nature as depicted in many ONV poems, " Aatmaavil Muttivilichathu Pole- An informal discussion and poetry session with ONV, "Varika Gandharvagayaka Veendum"- A short musical focussing on contemporary life and incorporating many nostalgic ONV songs and finally "Maanikyaveena Ganamela" led by Aparna Rajeev featuring many melodious, memorable and everlasting ONV lyrics that have mesmerised generations. It was also good to see Mr K Natarajan's (affectionately called 'Rajettan') first book being launched by Sri ONV Kurup. The book is titled 'Guruvum Laghuvum' a collection of simple yet elegant poems written in malayalam. It was a rejuvenating and nostalgic evening. I did not feel tired driving to Durham and back at a stretch (6hours)!

Manikutty had her birthday in between. We had a small cake cutting on her birthday, followed by a barbecue party on Sunday. Both went very well. It was good weather, family, friends, great food and a delicious cake:). She is planning a third party for her school friends this weekend- A' canoeing party' at Leicester Outdoor pursuits centre!

There was also the wedding of Malayalam film actor Prithviraj to his love in Kerala. I cannot understand the 'hoo haa' raised by this, especially among some of the fairer sex who are not 'fully happy or satisfied' by this wedding. My feeling is that if the couple who got married, their families and friends do not have any major issues, then why are some annoyed about this?

The holiday culminated with the news of a 'sea funeral' that my brother broke early on Monday morning. i.e. the death of OBL in a dramatic action by 'US navy seals' in the 'heart' of Pakistan...

The balance sheet of T20 world cup

Congrats to Pakistan who convincingly won the final against Srilanka. Pakistan, who fell agonizingly short in the last world cup and have been through so much problems as a country in the last two years, have pulled off a great victory. One might have felt sad for Srilankans, but Pakistan deserved to win the match and the cup. They peaked at the right time and thanks to Afridi who won the MOM award in both semi-final and final.

Afridi quite literally represents everything for a 'pakistani team'......He is a great talent (team) who has underperformed on many occassions previously, but has the calibre to beat any team anywhere in the world on his (their) day. This goes on to prove the age old notion that form is temporary, but class is permanent.

I went to watch a few of India's matches. Saw the first match in Nottingham where they won against Bangladesh, though not convicingly. Manikutty also had the first experience of watching a cricket match live again at Trentbridge where she saw Srilanka beating Westindies and India beating Ireland.

A photo by Manikutty

Crowd support for India was tremondous where ever they played.....

Indian fans performing for the live telecast

Most of the sponsors were Indian companies.....


I was also at Lords last sunday only to see India being expelled from the world cup by a fighting English side. I must say that there is nothing more beautiful in cricket than at 'Lords' (the home of cricket) on a sunny day, packed with full capacity of passionate supporters.....It was literally a 'sea of Blue'.....But alas the Indian team let the fans down again in a big tournament! They lost all the 3 super-8 matches and left for home dejected. Who is to blame? The loosers were again the Indian supporters. The BCCI, team management and the team recieved hefty cheques as usual. It would have been wonderful if the players had shown a bit of the passion like their supporters and gone out of the tournament showing their grit and determination rather than being kicked out in such a cowardly and cheeky manner....

Support for India just outside Lords stadium

The most visible landmark in Lords...the mediacentre....Inside Lords it was all 'Blue', felt as though the match is played in India.....

The famous pavilion where millions of Indians have the memory of Kapil dev and team lifting the worldcup in 1983....


The T20 have given a few messages:

1. Twenty twenty is here to stay; though it may not affect the test cricket significantly, it will take away the sheen from one day internationals, who will definitely suffer

2. There are no under dogs or favourites in a T20. Anyteam can win or rather any one can loose as is being exemplified in this year s IPL where the bottom 2 teams from last year( Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers) went on to play the final

3. T20 is not just about hitting out or slogging every ball...there needs to be a clear planning, partnerships and perfect execution of the process to gain the upperhand.

4. Who said T20 will spell the 'death' of bowlers in cricket? infact it was the 2 teams with the best bowling resources (MMM ie Murali-Mendis-Malinga for Srilanka and AAA ie Aamir-Afridi-Ajmal along with Gul for Pakistan) that went on to play the final.

5. T20 will also totally change the way, the world views cricket. From 10 or fewer nations it will spread to many countries and it is only a matter of time and its not if, but when cricket will become a regular feature of Olympics.

The beauty of test cricket

Last night I read Ian Chappell saying 'Expect an Australian win' and South Africa have proved the plaudits wrong..They have managed to upstage the 'number one' test team in the second highest chase in Test match history by scoring 414 runs in the 4th innings! Brilliant, simply brilliant!! Full marks to Graeme Smith and his men who showed the intent, attitude and belief that anything is possible in cricket...

South-Africa has matured as a team in the last few years (Under Smith's captaincy) and who can forget their wonderful chasing in that famous 2006 ODI against Australia(438 in 49.5 overs) at Johannesburg. I still remember Anju texting me from India after watching that match (http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/match/238200.html)..

Australia's Vulnerability is exposed especially in the bowling department after McGrath and Warne retirement. Their invincible label is cracking as I said before(http://adhvaitha.blogspot.com/2008/11/end-of-australian-domination.html).Its looking increasingly likely that one of the other top 3 teams could upstage them as number one test team and its only a matter of time before it happens...

The recent 387 run chase by India and now this record chase clearly shows that test match is here to stay and illustrates the beauty, excitement and unpredictability of the game....

An unforgettable match and victory

An amazing cricket match; Who said twenty 20 will replace test cricket? Probably one of the best matches one could have imagined especially considering the uncertainties whether this test match would have happened at all in the first instance. Congrats to every one involved in the match..from administrators, security, Chennai crowd, officials, staff and players specifically England team who showed the determination and will to come back to Chennai for playing the tests after the unfortunate incidents at Mumbai 3 weeks ago. India emerged victorious, but I feel the real winner is cricket.

It was an enthralling five days of pure test cricket feast. Two centuries from Strauss in each innings, a gritty half century from Dhoni in the first innings, the 2-wicket over from Swann that broke India's backbone in the first innings, Collingwood's second innings timely century (that probably saved his place in the team) , Sehwag's amazing 83, Yuvi's 80+ and Sachin's 41st century. The MOM award was deservedly given to Veeru, though he missed out on a century provided the impetus, platform and more importantly the belief that India can and should go for a win rather than defend to save the match( as Dhoni himself admitted at the post match ceremony). But for Veeru this test may have ended in a draw or an England victory.

Dhoni has now won four out of four test matches as captain and as I have said before many times he is the right person for the job, forming the correct link between youth and experience in 'team-India'. As India won lot of people will forget the weak link in the present Indian side ie Rahul Dravid ('Media's darling') who will most likely get another chance at Mohali. Iam sure everyone knows that one cannot be in the team just because of impressive past records. Hope he comes good in the next test.

From England's point of view it is disappointing to have lost a test match that they dominated for about 70% of the time. They may have to rethink their strategy especially on the scoring rate and some key bowling options. However, I thought KP's captaincy was quite good and inspiring.

Two days ago (at stumps on third day) I thought England were in a very strong position and if India can turn the tables, India should be considered as the second best test team (after Australia). They did exactly that today..Well done India and well done England too who competed extremely well in this test except the last 4 sessions.

I hope we can expect another cracker of a test match at Mohali in 3 days time....

Switch on your brains, ICC/BCCI

Common...Switch on the flood lights! I am wondering why can't the BCCI and ICC have that rule in place for the third one-day at Kanpur today. It was an even match considering how brutally England were beaten in the last 2 games in the ODI series. India now leads the 7 match series 3-0.

When a match is organised in Kanpur at this time of the year the organisers should have some sense that it will be foggy/dark in the evening by 16:00 hours. They should have made it a day/night match or else made the provision of switching on the lights in case of bad-light. One might imagine that the ICC would have learned the lesson from last world cup final debacle in Windies when Srilanka was made to bat for 3 overs in pitch-black darkness..

I am not sure whether carrying on the game with lights switched on, would have changed the result (other than the fact that India's win would have been in terms of number of wickets rather than 16 runs by Duckworth-Lewis method); but this would have given the English team a chance to fight and may be given them a chance to an unlikely victory making it 2-1 rather than 3-0 at this point in the series.

At least Pietersen and mates can be reassured by the fact that the margins of Indian victories have been coming down steadily ie 158 runs, 54 runs and now 16 runs. This may be due to the fact that this English team at last may be coming to terms with the opposition, the conditions and, perhaps most importantly, themselves (after the loss of 20 million dollars at Stanford match with Windies).

The end of Australian Domination

Australia ended a disastrous tour to India having lost the series 2-0 and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Does this mean the beginning of the end of Australian Domination or does it mean that other teams are catching up with them? It is clear that India has made tremendous progress in the last few years, specifically after 2000 under the leadership of Saurav Ganguly. He is the first Indian Captain who raised the profile of Indian Crickets image overseas by building a team with both experience and youthfulness by his astute qualities, leadership skills and killer instinct (which I thought India was lacking previously though individual players like Kapil Dev, Srikkanth etc exhibited this from time to time)

Under Ganguly's captaincy India won 11 Tests overseas including matches in Sri Lanka, West Indies, England, Australia and Pakistan. India's success abroad has continued even after Ganguly's tenure ended with the torch being handed over to Dhoni after a short 'delay' when Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble were captains

"Winning at any cost", the Australian way, was simply lacking in this series. There may have been many reasons behind this, but the decision of Ponting to use his spinners on Sunday - and then watching them ease the pressure on India - instead of looking for a quick kill and thinking of the consequences later cost them the test , the series and the coveted Border-Gavaskar trophy.

I always considered Steve Waugh as a much better captain than Ponting, but loosing one series doesn't make Ponting a bad captain either. I am sure Ponting will be back to his winning ways when Australia start their series against New-Zealand later this month. However, this series win by India will give a lot of confidence to other test playing nations to take on Australia whose "invincible label" is cracking especially after the retirement of Warne, Mcgrath and Gilchrist. Saying that even when these players were playing for Australia, India have always been a headache to Australians as they have lost 3 of their 4 test series in India in the last decade....

320...in great style

India recorded their biggest test- cricket victory today (in terms of runs). They crushed the test champions, Australia by a huge margin of 320 runs. It was an emphatic win, outplaying the Aussies in batting, bowling, fielding and captaincy, consistently over 5 days. Australia have lost before but it's been a long time since they were so comprehensively taken apart. India is the only team in the last 10 years who has stood up to Australia and such a result was imminent.

MS Dhoni rightly deserves the man of the match award, though potentially it could have been given to any of the nine players with the possible exception of Dravid and Laxman. It was a great team effort ably led by the captain from the front. As I had said in one of my previous blogs, Dhoni is the man for Indian Cricket at the moment and there should be no hesitation in making him Team India's test captain (http://pradeepcvasudevan.blogspot.com/2008/08/msd.html). Congrats to whole team and management and specifically Kris Srikkanth who in my opinion took some sensible decisions in team selection and went for a right mix of experience combined with youth.......

MSD

It was a good win for India against Srilanka (SL) in the 4th ODI cricket, therby winning the 5 match series. This is their first series win against SL in SL (Earlier this year England also won their first series ODI in SL) There wasn't much to choose between the 2 teams ie SL and India. The major difference and the reason for their win is attributed solely to Mahendra Singh Dhoni(MSD). He led from the front, was the 'centre' of India's batting and when India fielded. It was the minor moves and adjustments that he made in the field that jolted SL and struck major blows at the right time. Iam sure Dhoni will achieve much more than any other Indian captain in years to come. Dhoni keeps things simple, makes strategic moves at the right time, supports young players and has the overall support of all players. He has already won the inaugural T20 world cup when nobody expected India to progress to the semis with a very young team. He has a good chance of winning the next world cup and if he stays and maintain a similar attitude (and of course if the BCCI and selectors support him whole heartedly) , I predict that India, can and will unseat Australia as the top test playing nation in the next decade.....

Bouncing Back

India did extremely well in winning the second test and bounced back in to the test series, in grand style yesterday after surrendering first test by a huge margin. Their win was convincing and clinical. The credit should go to the whole team and camp.....but specifically Sehwag, Ishant and Bhajji stand out. The difference between both teams on Day 4 was the self confidence exhibited by India, riding on the devastating double century of Sehwag and the decisive spells from Ishant and Bhajji. Also the other Indian Batsmen played their part; specifically Gambhir, who proved that he is potentially going to cement that one opening slot in Indian team for many years to come. The old quartet of RSVG (Rahul, Sachin, VVS and Ganguly) too played a part.

The problem with Srilanka was that they were a bit too overconfident after the thrashing victory in the first test. They felt the spin duo M&M (Murali and Mendis) would be 'Double Trouble' to India like in the first test. But Sehwag had other plans or may be that SL did not have a plan B for him. Its unfortunate that a Bowler of Mendis's calibre ended up on the loosing side, in spite of a 10 wicket haul. Its also unusual that a bowler like Bhajji who got a 10 wicket haul from the winning side was not even considered for Man of the match award. Such was the Brilliance and authority of Sehwag......

I think the momentum is with India and I will not be surprised if they go on and win the third test and series.

On this part of the world, it was sad news for English cricket. They lost the series against South Africa( first time sine 1965). More over they lost the best captain seen in English Cricket for a long long time, when Michael Vaughan stepped down. He said it was the hardest (as he loved doing the job) and the most easiest decision. He thought it was the right thing to do.... I feel Vaughan was an excellent captain and a person who did his job with integrity. He won 26 out of 51 test as a captain for England. The high point was when he won the Ashes in 2005. The beginning of his end started when he lost the series to India last year (the first time India has won a series since 1986). It will be difficult for ECB to find a suitable successor for Vaughan. After all a captain is only as good as his team and this team was no where near the team that won the Ashes. Good luck to Vaughan as this decision may prolong his career as a batsman in the team and he bows out with his integrity and dignity intact.

I must congratulate Graeme Smith on winning the series for South Africa almost single handed. He led from the front with his will power and is a great example for youngsters to follow around the world.