Dav in Demand

Pakistan have expressed its interest in Bangladesh’s outgoing coach Dav Whatmore. Now this is going to raise Whatmore’s value even more as he is the frontrunner to replace Chappell.

India should not waste anymore time and get Whatmore to sign on the dotted line at the earliest. Now that the stakes are high with Pakistan too wanting him, the least that we offer him should beat Pakistan’s best offer. As he is the best presently available we need him at any cost.

After we get Whatmore, and if we hope to have the same results as the ones he produced out of Sri Lanka and to some extend Bangladesh, then we can’t tie high hands at the back and then ask him to produce a Sri Lanka out of our team. Hope BCCI keeps that in mind while trashing out his contract.

Killer of Giants

What else can we call this Bangladesh cricket team?

With India out of the World Cup I was finding it hard to watch or enjoy any of the matches. As I wrote earlier due to India’s early exit, I am supporting Sri Lanka but not that wholeheartedly. Then Saturday’s Bangladesh-South Africa match changed all that. Now after seeing how the tiger cubs mauled the then #1 team, I too have become a fan of this Bangladeshi team and I am pretty excited about the World Cup now as the fight for the semi-final berths is up for grabs. I have forgiven them for throwing us out of the World Cup and now looking forward to see Bangladesh’s remaining matches and their possible giant killing acts. I also hope to stay up late till the matches end. Bangladesh’s next possible victims are England, WI and Scotland. The best news for the Bangla team is that these teams are not playing well and this gives the Bangladesh team a real chance to win all three matches and find a place in the semis. And if they find anyone else other than Australia in the semis then they have a real chance of playing the finals.


India tours Bangladesh next. Before the World Cup, for India this was a “good for nothing” tour – just good to give the ‘minnows’ some fielding practice. Now with India yet to realise what hit them when they played Bangladesh in the World Cup, will surely want to save further embarrassment. For this, the Board is thinking of axing some senior players so the average age of the Indian team will match the average age of the Bangla team, which is 24. Now even if India is mauled by the tiger cubs at least there wont be any embarrassment. But I hope the so-called minnows trash our team like trash so that we learn some hard lessons. First of all we should learn not to treat anyone like trash. Second, never take any team lightly. Third, always keep up-to-date with the minnows’ progress.


With the coach’s place falling vacant following Chappell’s resignation Dav Whatmore whose term with the Bangladesh team is ending has expressed a desire to take up the lucrative and ‘prestigious’ job of coaching India. He is undoubtedly the perfect choice available right now. The wonders Whatmore has done with Sri Lanka first and now with this Bangladesh team is there for all of us to see. However, I think - for the good of world cricket - he should be with the Bangladesh team for a couple of years more so that he can transform them into a world beating team on a consistent basis. After that we can consider hiring him if he is still interested.


I am very much dejected and angry by India’s abject capitulation in the World Cup especially against Bangladesh. But after some introspection I am glad they trashed us in every department of the game that day and thereby make us look inward for a moment and realise where we stand in terms of being a Cricketing power and I thank those tiger cubs for that.

Was Bob Woolmer Murdered?

Too bad if this is true.

Senior sources in Jamaican police have confirmed to TIMES NOW that Pakistan team coach Bob Woolmer did not die a natural death but was murdered. The murder angle which was first reported by TIMES NOW on Tuesday (March 21), has not been explicitly confirmed by Jamaican police, who have taken a guarded line merely stating that there is a “bit of suspicion” in the circumstances of Woolmer’s death. In a presser today (March 21), the Deputy Commissioner of the Jamaican Police, Mark Shields, said that the initial post-mortem results confirm that his death was “under suspicious circumstances” and that it merited a “full scale investigation”. He also said that apart from the murder angle the police is looking into the motive behind the suspected murder. Woolmer's death has been linked to Pakistan's shock defeat against Ireland. The late Pakistan coach was reported to have been depressed after Pakistan's loss and had reportedly said that it had been “one of the worst days” of his life. Pak team to stay on Shields also said that each and every member of the Pakistan team was questioned on their whereabouts at the time of Woolmer's death. As of now Pakistan will play their last league game against Zimbabwe; however they will stay back in Jamaica after that till the Jamaican police are satisfied that all questions have been answered. The announcement on the investigation effectively removes the PCB from the whole affair, as Woolmer’s death is now a criminal case with his wife now directly involved with the Jamaica police and in contact with them. “Strong indications of murder” The police and PCB team in Jamaica today confirmed off the record to TIMES NOW, outside the theatre where the autopsy took place, that there were “strong indications” that it was murder, prompting authorities to announce that the results had been inconclusive. Reports of the toxicology and histology tests are still awaited. Sources have told TIMES NOW that the PCB is upset over the news of the suspected Woolmer homicide being splashed all over the media, saying it was against Jamaican law to give out this information before Jamaican authorities did. The fact that one of the world’s most renowned cricket coaches was possibly murdered 36 hours after his team exited from the World Cup, would not only be a source of deep embarrassment for the PCB, but also have very serious implications on international cricket. Additionally, the homicide conclusion opens the door to a host of possibilities as - not the least of which is that the alleged player-bookie nexus in Pakistan, which would have been dealt a heavy blow from the team’s exit from the World Cup, had a hand in his death. Match fixing ghost is back Also, following allegations by former PCB chief Sarfaraz Nawaz on Tuesday, sources say the PCB is really worried at this point that the direction of the investigation seems to have changed subtly from just an enquiry into the death of Bob Woolmer and why he died, to include the betting issue. Nawaz yesterday alleged that the bookie mafia was involved in Woolmer’s death and that the Pakistan-West Indies match had been fixed. The match fixing ghost never really left the Pakistan team, and with these grey areas now still evident, the PCB will be under pressure now to take some measures to clean up the team’s tarnished reputation. Meanwhile the ICC will also now have to get their anti-corruption unit officers to work to find out if there was any match fixing or betting angle to this suspected murder. The betting angle also assumes significance in the context of a book that Bob Woolmer was writing in which he may have planned to blow the lid off the player-bookie nexus in Pakistan. “Suspicious” circumstances Bob Woolmer was found on Sunday night (March 18, India time) in his hotel room unconscious and in a pool of vomit. He was pronounced dead on reaching the hospital. TIMES NOW sports editor Faisal Shariff spoke to the Pakistan team’s assistant manager Asad Mustafa, who commented that the circumstances in which Woolmer was discovered were “suspicious” from the start – not only was there vomit found, there were also indications that the coach had suffered from diarrhea, his blood sugar testing machine was found on the floor in the bathroom and there was blood on his cheek and eyes.[Times Now]

Superstition, Astrology and Cricket

Here I go again with one more of my posts on cricket. My site stats tell me that no one is interested in my cricket posts - neither readers nor googlers. But I love my cricket and just had to post this.

It’s a well know fact that even the most cynical person turns superstitious when cricket is on. What with particular seating positions, TV channel #, sound #, etc all in the belief that these ‘machinations’ will have a favourable influence on the game’s outcome played miles and time zones away.

Astrologers predict the outcome much ahead of time and most of the time ends up eating crow. This time too the astrologers have come out with their predictions and if they are to be believed, then India’s chances in this World Cup are not good.

According to one astrologer, India holds only a 50:50 chance for the final. Another one says Captain Rahul Dravid’s name does not suggest victory and only the second half of the year is going to be better for him.

According to one tarot card reader India will to lose to West Indies in today’s warm-up match and later in the league stage lose to Bangladesh, beat Bermuda and Sri Lanka. Unfortunately for tarot card readers they always end up wide of the mark. This tarot reader predicted that India would have a hard time against the Netherlands in the first warm up match but we won comprehensively.

Btw, after Bangladesh surprised New Zealand by beating them by two wickets Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming, according to Radio New Zealand, suggests the loss is part of a cunning plan -- to shake off any suggestion of favouritism by losing early to one of the so-called minnows rather than latter when it really matters! Here is another - must read - incredible excuse for the lose. Bad losers!

Acknowledgements: All links via Rezwan’s blog.

World Cup Cricket on My Mind

Its time for the Cricket World Cup and this time it is in the tiny island paradises of the West Indies. There is palpable excitement in the air as India goes into the World Cup after winning two home series against the Windies the Sri Lankans – once again reinforcing the view of being tigers at home and pussies abroad. But all this is forgiven as we make the bid yet again for winning the World Cup only for the second time after Kapil’s Devils won it way back in 1983 when most of us were either not born or were in our diapers or were in school.

The biggest dampener is the timing of the matches. As the West Indies is on the other side of the earth, people in the Indian subcontinent will be watching the day matches at evening primetime on their televisions staying pretty late into the night to see the outcome. I am yet to study India’s schedule. I just hope our matches are scheduled for Saturday nights (IST) so we can wake up late on Sunday. I wonder how the Aussie and Kiwi fans are going to mange – there the matches will be aired live at dead of the night!

Due to the ugly reality of jihadi terrorism - a gift from Pakistan to world cricket - we are forced to a send a NSG commando team to protect our players.

I am not very happy with the Indian World Cup team’s composition. One look at the list and you can clearly see petty politics written all over it.

To start with Sehwag and Pathan who are in very poor form were included. Press reports have proved that Sehwag is in the team only because Dravid wants him because - as he claims - of his off spin ability. Now is Veeru a better spinner than Romesh Powar who currently is in terrific form and additionally being a pretty good lower order bat would have been a great asset to the team. With Robin Uthappa and Sourav Ganguly in excellent from, is anyone going to miss Virender Sehwag? By pandering to the interests of a few individuals, Rahul Dravid is gambling away the interest of one billion plus people. Someone should ask this ‘Gentleman’ why he is behaving this way.

Irfan could have been replaced by the Bengal paceman Ranadeb Bose who performed terrifically in the Ranji final or the Delhi teenage pace bowler Ishant Sharma who was to fly to SA to replace Munaf Patel. In a world cup situation a rookie who can be fast and unpredictable, can be a tricky customer to opposing teams. I am okay with the rest of the team but would have loved to see VVS Laxman included instead of Dinesh Karthik.

It is a grievously wounded Australia that is coming to the World Cup. England wounded them and the Kiwis added insult to their injury by rubbing salt into their wounds. The wounds are slowly healing and the Aussies will be looking to regain the lost pride. This makes them deadly dangerous even when Brett Lee is out with injury. Another team that we need to watch out for is Pakistan. With the drug addicts out and some other too out with injury, Pakistan will be under great pressure and under pressure they are a dangerous team. South Africa have peaked at the right time. After rubbing the Aussies’ nose in the mud, England and Kiwis are brimming with confidence.

The last time we were in the Windies the slow pitches did us in. I hope we keep that in mind. Lara was not happy playing the recent series here but he wanted to play the series in the WI to try out the new pitches which will be firm now. I think that’s what BCCI should have done.

Anyways, I am looking forward to a month of exciting cricket and I am obviously rooting for my India to lift the Cup. If India for some reason can’t get into the final, then I am rooting for Sri Lanka if they get to final.

Mohali’s Gift to Vizag?

On March 2nd, BJP and Akali vandals supporters vandalised the “most beautiful” Mohali Cricket stadium and the ground during the swearing –in ceremony of Akali’s Badal as Punjab CM. Cricket experts believe that irreparable damage could have been done to the pitches. At first I was very angry when I heard the news but soon realised that my city could benefit out of this. We in Visakhapatnam are thankful to these vandals for destroying the Mohali ground. Now the most beautiful cricket ground in India is ours – the ACA-VDCA stadium with the greenest outfield with a wicket that is a batsman’s paradise. Cricket fans were able to see this stadium - which can seat about thirty thousand spectators - on TV when India played SL recently in Vizag. This is also the stadium where Dhoni took the Pakistani bowlers to the cleaners two years ago when he scored 148 runs off 123 balls. The Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) should get BCCI to allot more matches – every year- to Vizag. If this fructifies, then life will be jingalala!

Cartoon Speak: Honoured Victim

Courtesy: The Hindu



Andrew Strauss has the honour of being Shane Warne's 700th test victim.

Irfan, Sreesanth, Cricket and World Cup

Sending back of Irfan Pathan midway through the South African tour is undoubtedly a strong message to non-performers that their place is not guaranteed by past performance. Irfan or his fans should not see this as a snub especially when there are some more players in the team who too need to given the same message. Irfan should play in the domestic matches and regain his form and swing at the earliest. His getting back to form – particularly when he is also a good bat - is very vital for our world cup plans. The same applies to Dhoni and Sehwag too.

Earlier Zaheer Khan was thrown out of the team for the same reason and after a stint in County cricket and domestic cricket he is back in form and has claimed back his place in the national team.

If we have to put up big scores particularly on the slow pitches of West Indies so our bowlers can have something to defend, Dhoni firing on all cylinders is very important. His 30-ball 50’s or 80-ball 100s are what we want from him in the world cup. The team management should not waste any more time and tell Dhoni to perform consistently or get demoted. In the meantime Karthik can keep as he is as good as Dhoni in wicket keeping and is also a good bat.

I have no idea why Sehwag is still in the team. Is he there because of some quota system? The only thing Sehwag lost for constantly under performing was his vice captaincy. He needs to be axed immediately and taken back only if he performs in the domestic matches. He is also another vital member of our team for the world cup. On his day Sehwag can take any attack apart and he being the opener we need this from him on a consistent basis and not in blue moon.

Sreesanth’s performance was excellent in the first test match. He should cut back on his song and dance acts - which I actually enjoyed watching - immediately if wants to save his match fee from being sliced off by the match referee again and again. Andrew Nel had provoked him quite a bit and it was natural that a young Sreesanth got a bit carried away after he smashed Nel for a six straight over his head. Remember there is nothing more humiliating for a bowler than being smashed over his head for a six. In Sreesanth’s own words this is what happened in the field between them:

As soon as I walked in to bat, he said, "I can smell blood, I can smell blood". Then, after beating me, he said, "You don't have the fire, man. You should have a big heart to play. You are like a bunny to me." He turned back and said it again, "You are a bunny man, and I'll get you next ball." He changed the field, moving the short leg fielder to deep square leg and telling Boucher he would bounce me. I am a fast bowler, and I was sure he would bowl a length ball. I just took my chance and stepped out to connect the ball.[Outlook]

After seeing India’s abject capitulation in the one-day series I honestly was of the view that we were going to get “rainbow washed” mercilessly in the tests and that too in three days flat per test. The South Africans’ tailor-made pitch was intended to be our waterloo but Sreesanth and Zaheer had other ideas and now the Proteas will surely be in a dilemma on what wicket to prepare for the Durban test. I saw Sreesanth in action for the first time in 2003 in a warm up match against New Zealand on TV and he instantly impressed me. In the Johannesburg test, his seam position was straight and delivery impeccable.

I was glad to see Dada and Laxman performing well in the first test. It is imperative for them to perform constantly from now on if they want to keep their place in the team. There should be no doubt that Ganguly got back his place in the team because of politics and not because of any performance in the domestic matches which was nothing to write home about. VVS should remember that he is playing tests and can take his own sweet time to get off the mark.

Earlier in the year when Ganguly was dropped - after constantly underperforming - from the team we saw the worst form of chauvinism. It was extremely disgusting to see a section of the fans making a case for Dada’s recall on the on the basis of his past performance. I can say with confidence that this is the most ridiculous justification for his recall. On the other hand the fans who opposed the call for his recall accused Dada’s supporters of regional chauvinism. It became more ugly when even the political class of West Bengal came out in Dada’s support.

Ganguly’s supporters forgot everything about national interest in their chauvinistic one-point agenda of getting Dada back in the team. Let us not forget that nothing is bigger than national interest. The playing eleven represents the nation on the field –whether war or sports - and when national honour is at stake, nothing but the best eleven of the nation at that moment should take the field.

Anyone remember Yalaka Venugopal Rao who made it to the national ODI team due to some terrific performance in the domestic matches? Unfortunately his performance for India was nothing to write home about and predictably was dropped after playing some 16 odd matches. Now did anyone in Andhra Pradesh create a hue and cry about it? At least his city folks could have done some whining. No, no one did that coz national interest mattered most. Here let me not forget to mention that Venugopal is not only from my city but also from my neighbourhood!

Let me also write about the recent ‘misbehavior’ of the Aussie team members with BCCI Chief Sharad Pawar during the prize distribution ceremony of ICC Championship. I didn’t see any wrong on Ricky Ponting’s part when he gestured to Pawar to hand him the trophy. I think that was made in jest. However it was rude of them to push him off the stage when Pawar himself would have left after posing for the photographs. Then to make matters complicated the media went to town with this and made it into a matter of national honour. Ultimately the Aussies apologised and a needless matter was put to rest.

We should remember that Aussies are not exactly the gentlemen who are supposed to play cricket. After all they are the descendants of exiled hardened convicts from the British Isles. Wasn’t it that ‘good’ old Ian Botham who once called the Aussies a bunch of convicts and I am told he caused a diplomatic uproar in the 1980s between Australia and United Kingdom when he talked about beating the Aussies in Australia in a stadium full of criminals.

New Cricket Record in Batting

Two awesome 13-year-old Hyderabadi boys have erased the highest batting partnership record that catapulted Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli into cricketing history. The best thing is that the record is staying in India but just moved next door to Andhra Pradesh from Maharashtra.

Two city [Hyderabad] lads created cricketing history piling up a stupendous 721-run partnership in 40 overs flat for St. Peter's School against St. Phillip's High School in the Hyderabad Cricket Association Inter-School (Under-13) cricket tournament at Parade Grounds on Wednesday. Triple centuries by openers B. Manoj Kumar (320 not out, 127 balls, 46 x 4) and Md. Shaibaaz Tumbi (324 not out, 116 balls, 57 x 4) saw them race past the previous record of 664 runs scored by Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli for Shardashram School in Mumbai in 1987-88. In fact, the boys scored in a single day unlike the famous duo, which took three days for the record partnership. "We feel nice to have broken Sachin and Kambli's record," the tired but jubilant 13-year-old, eighth standard students of the Old Bowenpally school exclaimed. [The Hindu]

More Reports from DNA, Indiatimes.com, Timesnow.tv

Whose Pride?

Gujarat's or India's?

In yesterday’s cricket match between India and England if it were not for Munaf and Irfan’s deadly disciplined bowling we would have been chasing a bigger total and with the pitch playing bad towards the end, the chase would have been very difficult.

I especially loved the way Munaf kept to his line and length. To someone who has the fastest arm in India and touted as our answer to the Lees and Akhtars of this world, it must be tough to cut down on pace and stick to line and length which incidentally is already paying him good dividends.

It is good he realised it early in his career unlike Javagal Srinath who only decided to cut down on pace towards the end of his career. If I recall correctly this move of his - sticking to line and length - gave him more wickets than sheer pace. I was disappointed when Srinath suddenly announced his retirement. I really felt he had some more years of cricket in him. Anyways let bygones be bygones and let us look toward a bright future for the bowling department of our cricket team with Munaf, Irfan, Sreeshanth and others.

Related Link: An article from "Himal" on the communal situation in Gujarat today.

Secret of Pakistan's Fast Bowling Prowess

Two Pakistan speedsters on Monday tested positive for doping. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif failed an internal PCB dope test. Both players, according to the PCB, have been asked to return to Pakistan.

The tests were conducted by the Pakistani Cricket Board and come just before the ICC tests, which were to be done through random sampling of players.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) in collaboration with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has also introduced dope test in the ICC Champions Trophy.

Two players from each of the ten participating teams were to be selected at random and subjected to dope tests by the World Anti Doping Agency officials during the Champions Trophy being played in India.

This is the first time a dope test has been introduced by the ICC in Champions Trophy. Though it was done on a trial basis during the last World Cup in South Africa, officially this is being done for the first time at the top level.

Test samples would be sent to the nearest WADA-accredited lab in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There is no WADA accredited laboratory in India.