Alas! DD lost but it not so sad

IPL Season 3, 2010
DD v. MI Ist Match

I am a staunch DD supporter having stayed most of my life in Delhi. I was definitely sad when DD lost yesterday. Winning is never easy when opposition posts 200+ total on the board. Moreover DD lost one of the best T20 batsmen and their captain right at the starting of the match; it made the arduous task much more difficult.

But like every SRT fan, I was more than pleased to his batting. It is true that he plays for MI but he is an icon of our age. He took the game away from DD; bowlers just didn't have answer to his range of shots. His batting was riskfree to the extent of being faultless. May he do even better in forthcoming days but not at the expense of DD.

Signed
Confused SRT and DD fan...

Yipee! Starting tomorrow we will have overdose of cricket...

Or would it be under dose? For test connoisseurs, it definitely would definitely be an under dose. In a test match 90 overs are bowled during a day with healthy competition between bat and bowl. Whereas from tomorrow onwards we will watch 7 week long IPL extravaganza with only 40 overs bowled during a day. And bowlers being treated as second class citizens.

I am not trying to marginalize T20 cricket. I am great fan of all 3 formats of cricket as each format needs different type of skills. I just feel sad for bowlers who are slogged mercilessly all around the park. Maybe in next few years bowlers will develop new weapons for T20 cricket or we will see some changes in rules. Till that time let's enjoy our cricket.

One thing is definitely sure the cricketers will enjoy overdose of fans...

Australia and test cricket

There was an interesting thought in an article that appeared in The Hindustan Times today.

Excerpt from Aussies look to stave off early exit
Aussie dominance in cricket has always been built on a mental strength. Australians prey on the physical and mental weaknesses of their opposition. Mental disintegration has been the method of approach for Australia for a while now.But that becomes a bit of a problem in T20s There is hardly the time Aussies need to prey on the opposition’s weakness. By the time, they figure out what they need to do to get under the skin, the game is gone.

It is an interesting thought and there might be some truth in it. The most important reason for their dominance in test cricket is their seriousness about it. They plan extremely well for the test matches and ensure that their plan are executed to the perfection including "mental disintegration".

Refer to my earlier post Why Australia is the best test team in world?

Can India become number 1?

BCCI selection committee is in a dilemma whom to select and whom to drop for ICC T20 world cup. Read the following article on cricinfo
RP in contention for World Twenty20
BCCI selection committee has a happy problem at hand. They have problem of plenty; they can choose 15 member squad from a pool of 20 or more quality players A team's strength can be judged by looking at the quality of players who are not part of team squad. India has very good quality players who are not part of international squad. These qulity players can walk into the team any day on the basis of their performance in IPL or other domestic tournaments.
In this decade India have remained serious contenders for number 1 only because of strong playing 11. But lately the bench strength has improved and they have been winning consistently. It has happened because of improvement at domestic level (Ranji, IPL et. el.) and under 19 level.

We can only expect that team will improve further and in near future India will become ICC number 1 team; albeit in T20 and one day. But test matches are a different ballgame. In test there are players staking claim to get into team but to it will be next to impossible to replace Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. Let us just hope for the best.