team mate

Surprises in Indian Test team for WI tour in notable absentees, not selections

The Indian Test team for the West Indies tour has been announced.

In a surprise move, Indian selectors rested Sachin Tendulkar. The master batsman  will not feature on the entire West Indies tour. West Indian cricket fans are denied an opportunity to catch one last glimpse of Tendulkar before he bids farewell to the game.

The controversial shoulder injury to Gautam Gambhir and the sudden illness of Yuvraj Singh mean that this is one of the weakest batting sides to tour abroad in recent times.

Continue reading →

What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t: Jacques Kallis

What he said:

“I am an easy man to please and one of the greatest pleasures is taking money off Mark Boucher on the golf course.”

Jacques Kallis finds SA and Kolkatta Knightriders team-mate easy meat on the links.

What he really meant:

“Pocket money’s always welcome.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“I’d continue playing Mark is if I kept losing.”

Recap and implications of ICC’s Cricket Committee recommendations

Cricket Ireland will welcome the recommendations made by the ICC’s cricket committee on Wednesday, the 11th of May, 2011.

Associate teams will be allowed to participate in the 2015 World Cup through a qualifying process. The next World Cup will not default to Test-playing nations. Teams will have to earn the right to be in the elite group of participating nations.

Cricket fans will start to believe again that “yes, the administrators are playing cricket.”

Continue reading →

Somdev Devvarman’s brave fight in vain: India lose 1-4 to Serbia

Image via Wikipedia

If there were any doubts that Somdev Devvarman is the rightful inheritor to Leander Paes’ mantle in the Davis Cup , they were put to rest by his stellar display at Novi Sad against defending champions Serbia.

Novak Djokovic—the World No.3 and architect of the successful Serbian title run last year—opted out of the first round tie. India were hit hard by Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi’s withdrawals due to injuries. The doubles point was considered to be in the bag with the duo around.

Continue reading →

Laxman and Bhajji hold the fort: First Test against Kiwis peters to a draw

The first Test match between the Black Caps and India petered out to a tame draw.The great escape was engineered by two intrepid saviours,VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh.

The New Zealanders would surely have hoped to end the Indian innings early this morning but much as Vettori and Martin tried, the experienced duo of Laxman and Harbhajan would not let anything get past them.

The Black Caps, however, let a couple of half-chances go a-begging.

Once the first session was seen through without further loss of wickets, it was a matter for conjecture if Dhoni’s men would choose to continue batting or declare early to try and force a win.The Indian think-tank decided against an early declaration; discretion is the better part of valour.

Laxman and Harbhajan rode into the 90’s in contrasting styles; Laxman —calm and self-assured— radiating confidence and Harbhajan treating his time in the middle as a lark in the park ,with mighty swipes at the spinners.

Both batters looked good for tons but Laxman was undone by a terrible decision by umpire Davis given out leg before off an inside edge. Zaheer followed him back to the pavilion — out off the next ball — and the Kiwi captain was on a hat-trick that was not to be.