It's Cricket Again !

When I said I was happy to see Virender Sehwag out of the team, I was not wrong. Today I enjoyed the 1^st ODI between West-Indies and India and not even once I missed Sehwag.

All of them … Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin, Dhoni and Dravid kept the score card moving by playing brilliant shots (Sachin’s strike rate of 81.57% being the lowest of the lot) and as per the commentator, today’s score 338 for 3 was India’s highest against West-Indies.

It was a great comeback for Ganguly (unfortunate run out at 98) but here, I would like to mention Gambhir’s effort. He made excellent 69 runs at a strike rate of 92%. If he continues like this then there is very little chance of Sehwag making a re-entry. Gambhir has talent and any day a better fielder than Sehwag. He confidently played shots and it was a delight to watch two left-handers in action. The first over itself produced 16 runs. Only one thing disappointed me about Gambhir ... his ‘laddu’ catch to Samuels on the bowling of Chris Gayle.

Something about Dhoni. Today also, his number of sixes overshot his fours. Like Sehwag he is a powerful player and likes to send the ball across the boundary. But one added advantage to Dhoni is his defensive shots. Yes, at times when the team needs to retain wickets, this young lad from Jharkhand has shown his capabilities as a defensive player very unlike Sehwag who would have touched a ball outside the off stump in a suicidal manner.
Dravid again played good shots (strike rate 154%) including a four off a yorker, which to me is a very difficult task. Dwayne Smith tried a similar shot off Agrakar’s bowling but was clean bowled. Both Dhoni and Dravid made 30 runs in 2 overs and in the last 5 overs they collected as many as 70 runs.

So, today both the umpires Suresh Shastri and Billy Bowden (I like watching him signaling for a six) :)) had to do a lot of hands up (total 16 sixes). Also, poor Suresh Shastri kept falling down ‘Dhammm’ on the ground.
Today was not Sreesanth’s day though he took a wicket and ran Bradshaw out on his own bowling. Sreesanth is a bowler with aggression, confidence, passion and a different attitude. At least 25 times I must have seen his on the field dance after hitting Nel for a six. When other bowlers cut their shoes at the front, he has different sized shoes for both his feet and for a very valid reason.

Lara had started playing a big game but intelligent bowling by Sachin saw Brian Lara stumped out. Lara had come out of the crease to hit the ball, seeing this Sachin bowled at a wider angle which Lara couldn’t even touch and so was stumped.
Man of the match was Chandrapaul for his excellent 149 runs. Have you ever noticed the stickers below his eyes ? Oh he earns through those eye catching stickers. They have become so much a part of his personality that I think I’ll have difficulty in recognizing him if he comes without them. :))

Current song- Chandni re jhoom – Kishore