CB Triseries - India's performance so far

Looking back at the half way stage of the tournament,there is nothing much to make note of.India is certainly struggling to stay put in this tournament. Lets review our performance match by match
India Vs Aus - Round 3: India have just lost a golden opportunity to stay ahead in this tournament.They have literally snatched defeat from the hands of victory. Credit for this should definetly go to Yuvraj and Gambhir for throwing away their wicket after settling in. Gambhir has this gifted talent of throwing it away as soon as he reaches the 30s.Looking at the way he scores these 30 runs one is made to believe that theres no stopping him. Dhoni did the only mistake in this match of sending Pathan as one down. It would have been an ideal situation for Uttappa to come on as he did not get enough time in the middle until this game and the target was also not very competitive. I think the composition of the team was perfect with five genuine bowlers. Ishant is the only saving grace of not only the match but the entire tournament. He is not only bowling quick but his line and length is just too good.Something for sreesanth to learn. If we cannot chase 200 against a line up which did not have Lee then, there is no competition left in this tournament. How often do you find Ponting, Hayden,Symonds, Hussey all out of form at the same time. This goes to show that,for them one batsman is enough to make a decent score.Their Bowlers will do the rest.

India Vs Srilanka - Round 2: India should consider them self unlucky to have lost this match. Rain having played the spoilsport once again.Having set a target in 30 Overs Match it literally was a T20 for Srilanka which they easily achieved. That one over of Sreesanth in which Jayasurya took him for 23 Runs turned the game head on. otherwise it would have been an interesting. contest. India were helped by a superb batting performance from Rohit Sharma. Dhoni faulted on going with seven batsman especially on a reduced over match


India Vs Australia : Oh what a victory this is for India. Superlative bowling from the young Ishant sharma. India though almost made a mess of a modest target. It was a matured innings from Dhoni and Rohit.

Ind vs Aus - 4 Test Series 2008

The Fourth Test turned to be an anticlimax with the match ending in a tame draw. Major highlights of the game was the individual scores of 150 from Sachin and the come back man Sehwag in the first and second innings respectively. It was a great bowling effort from Ishant sharma. Though not for wickets but it was great to see the pace at which he bowled and the line he maintained. He looks to be a very good one day bowler as well. Bhajji was especially disappointing in the entire series successful enough just to pick up Ricky Ponting’s wickets. Though the official score line reads 2-1 in favour of the Aussies, for any Indian Fan it would mean 1-1 , but for the Sydney test which the umpires ruined. Who knows it could have been 2-1 in favour of India if the umpires allowed us to snap Symonds early. “Oh what a miss”. This should have been a series victory for India.
The Chief villain in the series for India has been not the players but the BCCI. First they did not allow India much of practice by not giving them enough practice matches. This showed in the way they played at Melbourne and lost it. Our Players did not get any time to get acclimatised to the conditions. Then the ODI team was announced just before the start of the all crucial fifth test. Dropping of Dravid and Ganguly had its effect on their performances in the final test.
Kumble faulted on a couple of instances. Agreed Yuvraj came into Australia as the Batsman in form and hence he had to accommodated into the playing eleven and to do that Dravid had to open. The Logic appeared perfect. But looking at the way the Melbourne test progressed,Dravid got bogged out and appeared to be a reluctant opener. Also Yuvraj had problem picking brad Hogg let alone lee or Johnson. He just wasted a golden opportunity created specially for him. Trying out this strategy again at Sydney was a big mistake. Talking about Sehwag, He was one player who lost out of form in One dayers but was never so in Test Matches. The Selectors failed to look into into this aspect and dropped him both from One Day and Tests. His Average of 49 in test is no mean feat. Leaving him out in Melbourne and Sydney was again which we could have well avoided.
Jaffer(49 Runs, Avg 8.16),Dhoni (141 Runs,Avg 17.62),Bhajji(8 Wkts),Yuvraj(17 Runs, Avg 4.25) were the super flops of the series.Dravid(237 Runs,Avg 33),Ganguly(235 Runs,Avg 29),Laxman(366 Runs,Avg 45)RP(13 Wkts)chipped in with decent performances while Kumble(20 Wkts),Sachin(493 Runs,Avg 70) were just outstanding performers of the series
While the 2003 tour saw the departure of Steve Waugh from international series, this series saw Adam Gilchrist bidding adieu to the international arena. The timing of the departure seems to have taken everyone by surprise. Though he claims to be the lack of form and not getting young enough as the primary reasons, somewhere down the line he is hurt at Michael Clark being appointed as the future successor of Ricky pointing. One cannot miss to see that though Gilly has served Cricket Australia for all these years but was never given the opportunity to lead this great side.

Overall it was a fantastic series for India. No one gave them a chance. But the players showed that the Aussies can be beaten too. Hats off to kumble to leading the side remarkably. The focus now shifts to the more exciting ODI Series. Over to you Mr Dhoni

India Vs Australia - 3rd Test at Perth

India created history at perth by halting the Aussie juggernaut of 16 Consecutive Wins. This was test cricket at its best with an even match between bat and ball. One major reason for this indian victory was because most of the borderline umpiring decision which usually goes the aussie way due to their aggressive appeal management did not go their way this time.No i am not talking about the poor umpiring decisions.Another huge factor was the consistency in umpiring. Umpiring at both Sydney and Perth were poor but it was biased in Sydney and consistent towards both teams at perth.
This made the performances of our players a match winning one.
Sachin(71)and Dravid(93)was brilliant in the first innings. We were able to bundle Australia for 212. Taking a lead of over 100 Runs proved to be very crucial. RP was impressive with his four wicket haul. If not for the 79 runs from Laxman with that crucial partnership with RP Singh,India would have been staring at defeat.Hats off to Kumble for that brave decision to bat first on this lively pitch of Perth. Full credit to the inexperienced bowling line up of RP,Pathan and Ishant for creating magic at Perth. But i still feel they have a long way to go in being consistent. I just wonder would this victory be possible in the presence of Mathew Hayden, who literally has been toying with our bowling. We can well wait and watch for the fourth test as Hayden is declared fit and would be raring to go
Irfan brought a great deal of stability to the side. His contribution with the bat in both the innings(29 and 46) was invaluable and add to that the wickets of both the openers in both the innings cheaply. Only person not contributing to the team's cause presently is Jaffer. He looks awfully out of touch. Dinesh Karthik has to be brought in inplace of him. India now has a wonderful opportunity to level the series