New Zealand series follow up

A couple of weeks ago I had written about how Indian batsmen may suffer in New Zealand. Fortunately for the Indians, the Kiwis opted to prepare flat pitches for all ODIs except for the last one in Auckland.

I might sound like a negative character here. To be frank, I didn’t enjoy this series at all. Hard-hitting flat-pitch bullies from India proved that they are the best (?) in this world on small grounds and flat pitches in NZ. Some mediocre bowling added spice to their slaughter as well.

I do not know why in the last several years almost all the cricketing nations are preparing flat pitches when playing against India. Money involved could be the main factor! That is when the whole 50 overs a side is played and 300+ runs scored, fans will be happy and what suffers is Indian cricket!

While I am writing this India were all out for 150 in the last ODI. I am sure the case would have been the same had they prepared similar pitches in other matches as well.

Well, as long as flat pitches are there let the likes of Rainas and Gambhirs rule. On fast bouncy pitches they are nothing but rabbits in the headlights of a car! Once Sachin Tendulkar is out of this side, I am sure people will dearly miss somebody like Rahul Dravid, who probably was the only adaptable batsman of the recent times.

It would be interesting to see what kind of wickets will be made for the test series 🙂

India’s outting in the Kiwi land…

Recently I was talking to one of my friends who happens to be a great Indian cricket fan.

Definition of Indian Cricket Fan: Somebody who enjoys batsmen under all conditions, but particularly savors flat pitches. He doesn’t care if Zaheer Khan or Javagal Srinath get trashed, break their backs and get no recognition as long as his favorite batsmen have trashed opposition bowlers on his favorite flat pitches

Now coming back to the topic. This person claimed that what we have today is the best cricket team in many years and they will trash the Kiwis. I gently reminded him that many of our recent heroes have won great matches played in the sub-continent alone. I also told him that even many of those technical correct Indian batsmen from the past did not shine in the New Zealand and over importance given to Twenty 20 cricket has actually managed to make cricketers fish brains because they always think for short term.

What we saw in the first Twenty 20 matches is exactly this short thinking problem. If you hit two or three sixes in a row, doesn’t mean that you should hit the fourth one for a six as well. Yuvraj Singh may have done it on his day but that doesn’t happen every day! Gautam Gambhir may pull bowlers mercilessly in India and Sri Lanka but some of the New Zealand wickets are slightly different. And for god’s sake, don’t blame it on conditions. The lack of confidence and patience were visible on the Indians’ faces.

If they have forgotten what had happened in the 2002-03 series, I have a tip for them. If they can – if it’s possible at all that is – try to save as many wickets as possible for the first half of the game. All your heroics can be tried later on the show. If they learn to do this, chances are they may win two or three ODIs and manage to draw the test series. If not, they may get trashed in Twenty 20 matches, ODIs as well as test matches!

And stop blaming the conditions! If you want to be the best side in the world, you should prove yourself in all conditions! Flat pitch bullies!

Australia – New Zealand test series – 1st Test Review

We had an exceptional test match at the Gabba, Brisbane that highlighted the bowling performances mainly, by both the teams. Barring Michael Clarke and Simon Katich in the first and second innings respectively there were not any great batting performances. Good to see that Michael Clarke is getting more and more ready to take over the reigns where as the always sidelined and soft spoken Katich is suddenly everything of Australia’s top order with Hayden and Ponting miseries continuing.

New Zealand’s Lazy approach after initial spurt

Time and again this has happened. I thought, New Zeland got out of this mode after Vettori started showing more and more fighting spirit and pouring in more inspiration. But none of the New Zealand batsmen showed the intend to stay longer and infact, they lost the match on second day itself. After restricting Australia to a mere 214 in the first innings, they should have taken a vital 40-50 runs lead in the first innings. Had the game spread into the whole of 4th day, things could have been different.

Pace Bowling…

This is the first time I am seeing the teenager Kiwi, Thimothy Southee bowling! In fact, after seeing him ripping through Aussies’ top order in the first innings, I thought a new star is born for NZ. Anyways, Chris Martin is getting a little older. The Martin-Southee-O’Brien pace combo looks good though the main difference between the New Zealand pace team and other test playing nations pace battery is that NZ doesn’t have a quality left hand pace bowler. Nevertheless, this is one of their finest attacks in years.

I guess we are talking too much about the NZ bowling here. Australian bowling attack seems to have regrouped very well after they fell apart in the dead pitches of India.

Hayden and Ponting

Both these old stalwarts failed miserably again. Ponting is also finding it difficult to cope with his low over-rates yet again. According to me the main problem here are two:

1. Not having a quality spin bowler who could bowl 20 or 25 overs in two or three spells every day. The all-pace attack usually consumes more time.
2. Too many left-right hand combinations in the opposition team.

It is high time the Australian think tank did something about this issue. This can also prove to be bad for the opposition team as their momentum is sometimes lost due to Ponting overdoing stuff on the field.

Despite the victory, the Australian team is not the same again and I am predicting that their downside is yet to be seen (along side the recession that the world is witnessing right now)

Tail Piece: The media seems to be too much obsessed with what Andrew Symonds is doing on a daily basis. I guess, it’s time to leave the talented all rounder alone so that he gets back on track as early as possible.