CWC15... Dream Run Comes to an End!!!

               India came into this 2015 World Cup as Defending Champions and not as favorites at all. They had lost everything on Australian soil. Hard 2 and half months, losing test series, losing ODI tri-series... Another 1 and half months of World Cup tournament was on cards. No one expected them to even qualify for the quarters. No one expected that we will continue the winning streak against Pakistan in World Cup.
                         All were JUST HOPING "World Cup Jeeto Ya Na Jeeto, Pakistan ke khilaaf toh Jeeto" (Win or lose world cup, don't lose against Pakistan)! Then we won against Pakistan at least. Played well under pressure, everyone said, we had started the campaign on winning note.
                        Then everyone stressed on the fact that India have never beaten South Africa in World Cup matches. And South Africans were "Favorites"!!! Well, we beat them by 130 runs! Remarkable isn't it? And yes, after this game people started believing in Team India. We started the #WontGiveItBack campaign strongly, everywhere! We then won easily against the less favorite teams like UAE, Ireland, West Indies comfortably. Though, against Zimbabwe we won coming out of very tricky situation. So 6 matches were gone, and we were table toppers!! Wow.... We had beaten every opposition in the group stage!!
                        Because we earned the place at the top of table, we earned a right to play against Bangladesh (qualified from other pool at number 4)!! People said we are lucky to play Bangladesh in the quarters. We weren't lucky, we earned that comfort by being pool toppers. And Bangladesh was playing well at that time, they had qualified by for the quarters by beating England! So it was certainly not a cake walk by any means. We had to work hard, thanks to partnership between Rohit and Raina that took the game away from Bangladesh, otherwise they were in with a great chance of booking a berth in Semi Finals. So we reached the Semi Finals... And we were ready to face the Mighty Australian team.
                      Started off well, then came Steve Smith and took the game away from us along with Finch, but our bowlers did came back pretty strongly taking some crucial wickets in quick time. At one stage they were looking good to make 350+ and suddenly they were struggling to get past even 300. Johnson and Faulkner scoring quick runs in the end helped Australia to get past 320. It required some serious batting to chase that down. And everyone was expecting Virat to play an exceptional inning as he has done many times. He failed very early to his 4 months long rival Mitchell Johnson. Other batsmen did also failed in the semi final as India lost by 95 runs.
                   So what "so called Indian Fans" do now. They make statements saying stuff like,

• We Missed Yuvraj Singh!
• Where was Kohli's attention!
• When is Dhoni RETIRING?!

Sharing jokes/abuses on whatsapp, facebook it is good for our fun, but have you ever thought once, what they will feel when they hear such jokes about them? No! You just forward it saying it's just a joke! Cricket is may be just an entertainment show for you, but for them they are representing their country, they are representing INDIA. They work hard to be there... Just can't understand the mindset of such people who criticize beyond a certain level!

So did we really missed Yuvraj? My first question is in this match or in this World Cup?
I don't think we missed him at all! We won most of the 7 matches comfortably (to be noted) without Yuvi. And if you wanted him only for this match, then just go back and check your posts/jokes when India lost in the T20 World Cup final in Sri Lanka. I am sure most of you were there abusing him for the defeat. Instead of saying we should have done that, we should have selected Yuvi, why don't you feel proud of what this team has done in this World Cup. And if even Yuvraj had struggled you would have abused him! (No doubt he is one of the great players, but he is surely not a superman) Picking him in the team would have meant disturbing winning combination, and everyone had performed well till then!

About Kohli playing a reckless pull when the ball was well outside the off stump... There certainly would have been nerves of semi finals and expectations of over a billion fans that got Kohli and to support it was fast and fiery spell of Mitch Johnson. It had nothing to do with Anushka Sharma I am sure. People have gone on to say that we should boycott watching her movies and should throw stones at her house! She didn't bowl, bat or field, why are you targeting her!

Lot of people have started asking when Dhoni is retiring, will he be able to play the next world cup or not. Wow, isn't that too quick to react? Because of his inspirational captaincy we had earned a tag of favorites when we were only 'Defending Champions' to start with! The man , who hasn't meet his one month old daughter yet ..  Seeing his red eyes and the tone in which he was talking at the post match presentation.... You got to feel for that Man. He gave his everything to defend the title..  We were just 2 steps away.  That's how close we were.. And Dhoni's captaincy played a major role in it for sure.. And in India,  we require to provide more security to his house just to protect from the so called fans...!!  That's pretty disappointing !!

Positives---
We were not favorites because our bowling attack was below par they said...   The support staff,  Ravi shastri n MSD did well to inspire them,  n the bowlers were able to take 77 wickets in 8 matches,  that's incredible...

Our batsmen have gone on to a new level with everyone contributing..  We are now able to see beyond Virat Kohli for runs. Dhawan, Rohit, Rahane, Raina they all scored runs. And Dhoni is always there for you!

The outfielding..  It has been improving for a while..  But in this World Cup it was phenomenal..  We hardly dropped catches..

The captaincy...  It was great before no doubt... But coming out of the situation where he was in,  without meeting his first daughter,  MSD did really well to achieve that feet.

Guys,  No one wants to lose but at the end of the day you get only one winner.  We played well throughout the tournament and did very well to defend the title. Many of you who forward jokes about cricket players you haven't represented your country that's why you don't know who it feels to be in that position and lose it..  They are surely dejected,  they surely are disappointed,  they surely must have cried...so they need your support now and so you should stop making fun of them.  They tried their level best! !  But you have to admit that Australia were better oppositions today,  playing in their own backyard.  Credit to the whole team for the way they have responded to the job of defending the title.. And special thanks to the captain cool MS Dhoni for sacrificing Test Matches, for leading the way he has,  for not meeting his first new born baby for 50 days and still reaching the Semis...  Well done...  I am with you MS DHONI and TEAM INDIA...  Now and forever..

So here ends such a long post...  I know many of you find it over commenting on the public reactions..  And I completely agree that the mentality of people won't change..  People will keep behaving the way they want to.  So you can say this is my way of commenting.. And answering all your questions. I get hurt and angry when I read something against the team who has given their everything and  don't find its the correct way of reacting to a loss..  But that's the way it goes ALWAYS!!
Just wanted to write off all my thoughts which were hovering around in my mind,  so this one big post.  Now feeling a lot more satisfied!!  :)
THANKS FOR READING IT IF YOU REALLY HAVE!  :)
Hope to get more support for our team India next time!!

Pic courtsey- http://www.espncricinfo.com/

Behti Hawa Sa Tha Wo... Udti Patang Sa Tha Wo... Kaha Gaya Usse Dhundo...

From a ticket collector to a test captain...  From being a hard hitter to a captain cool...  He has seen every bit of it...

Last walk back in test cricket for MSD

       The Dhoni Era of Test Cricket,  comes to a sudden end..  It was a decision no one expected,  to suddenly withdraw from Test Series,  when one match is still to go in the series.  But that's how he has taken all his decisions.  He always has stuck to his instincts.  If he wanted a leg slip then he will put it in there,  if he thought promoting himself up in the big world cup final just because they had 2 off spinners would help India,  then he went ahead of Yuvraj and everyone knows the result.  As usual it was a shocking news,  because he didn't show any signs on the field,  in the post match presentation or in the press conference...  That was typical Dhoni there,  calmly picking up the stump,  shaking hands with the opposition,  having chat with Warner with never ending smile on his face,  he praised all his teammates in the post match show,  he answered all the questions asked to him in his own calm way and just went away.


     He was carrying a finger injury at the start of this series,  he didn't play the first test,  that's where he must have decided this is the time to think over again,  with world cup coming up,  it's certainly difficult to play all three formats and being captain puts a lot more pressure. So he decided to concentrate on ODIs and the T20s. It's a wise decision because he is simply the best limited overs captain India ever had.

Climbing to no.1 in the test rankings

         He never played for numbers.  He always put the team's interest first.  For me the best test match innings of his would be the one at Lord's..  He wasn't the captain,  he batted with the tail to drew a test match,  remained not out on 75 odd runs..  How quickly he changed his style of batting,  from a flamboyant the hard hitter to a unconventional blocker... His double hundread against the Aussies in the heat of Chennai,  is one more inning that comes into my mind when I look back at his test career..

From a small town like Ranchi,  to achieve what he has achieved is an inspiration to many.  He will be looked upon as a role model by many youngsters and the children. He has been a great human being.  He has been criticized a lot by many people,  but it never affected his game.  He never showed the pressure in his expressions but his beard turning white was a clear sign of the pressure and the burden of Captaining a 120crore's  nation.

Ganugly's last test

He respected his seniors,  at the same time he wasn't afraid to talk to them freely when he was just a wicket keeper batsman.  He understood the game very well from behind the stumps,  and that's what prompted Sachin to suggest his name for captaincy. Dhoni was captain when Ganguly had announced his retirement. As a simple but still wonderful gesture,  he let Ganguly to lead the last moments of the test match,  by letting him place the fielders and chose the bowlers.

Kumble Retirement

 He,  with the help of seniors and some younger players built a champion test team,  which became
number one in test rankings for the first time! After the retirements of Ganguly, Laxman,  Dravid etc the performance of the test team overseas hasn't been upto the mark. Everyone criticizing MSD for the losses is I think not a right thing,  if the bowlers are unable to take 20 wickets in the test match then it's near to impossible to win a test match,  forget the series.  He lost 6 consecutive test serieses outside Asia,  n that must have been playing back of his mind.  His luck,  his charm was vanishing in test matches as a captain overseas. But that's the game for you.





He came to the test team because we needed a regular keeper who can bat well,  he came as storm,  taking on Shoaib Akhtar' scary bouncers and scoring 148 runs and announcing his arrival in test cricket....  Behti Hawa Sa Tha Wo.....
He achieved many feats as a captain,  batsman,  Weekes keeper....  Udti Patang Sa Tha Wo...
Now he has retired,  he will play the shorter formats but certainly test team will be saying,  Kaha Gaya Usse Dhundo...  They will miss his wicket keeping skills and lower order batting contributions...

It's not a right time to debate if he should have played the last test match or not.  Because generally his instinctive decisions have paid of on most of the occasions. It's time to salute and celebrate to a career of a man who has served test cricket for 9 years. Who has been one of the greatest captain in the world. (He is 8th most successful captain in the world when it comes to win percentage) .  Hope he comes out one day- his timing is usually perfect- and answers all the questions.. All the criticism he had..

All the best Mahi for the ODI tri - series coming up in Australia and the big World Cup after that.. Hope you become only the third captain in history of cricket to win the world cup twice. Will surely miss you in your white jersey number 251.

Behti Hawa Sa Tha Wo... Udti Patang Sa Tha Wo...  Kaha Gaya Usse Dhundo....

You can see the wetness in their eyes

INDIA VS AUSTRALIA, 3RD TEST MATCH, MCG

Wow..  What a thrilling final day!!!  It could have been more thrilling had Australia declared earlier.  Never the less,  their bowlers were fantastic first up.  Picking up 3 quick wickets. After that India was only looking for a draw,  and rightly so!  Kohli and Rahane batted brilliantly.  Pujara also showed some resistance.  And then Ashwin and Dhoni managed to bat around 12 overs to make sure Australia won't win.  Smith thought his bowlers can't run through India's weak tail in the last 4 overs and decided to shake hands with the batsmen.

Test Match started with India restricting the Kangaroos on the first day.  But they lost the grip as the Aussies scored freely on day 2. Not to forget wayward bowling by the Indian quicks.  But thanks to Murli Vijay's solid start and Kohli-Rahane's counter-attacking yet very sensible partnership,  India were short by just 65 runs of Australia's mammoth first innings total of 530. Indian bowlers improved their performance in the second innings,  bowling good line and length.  At the end of day 4 match was evenly poised with Aussies leading by 326 odd runs and 98 overs still to go on day 5. With 3 wickets in hand everyone expected that Australia will bat for another 6-7 overs,  score quick runs and declare the inning.  But the young Australian skipper had some different plans.  Without showing any urgency they batted for 2 hours (till lunch)  extending their lead to 384.
3 early wickets and India given up the record chase. Bat 70 overs and drew the test match was the objective for them and they did it at the end!!!

Kohli and his Statement--
       The Australians are known for their aggressive and attacking cricket and so is Virat Kohli.  The spat started when Johnson threw the ball at stumps and which hit Kohli's calf,  Mitch Johnson apologized instantly but Kohli didn't take it well,  he was disturbed he was dropped,  once he settled his nerves the verbal battle began between him and few Australians.  Kohli went ahead and made it public,  by stating 'There is no reason to respect the Australians who don't respect me.'  and he continued saying, "whatever target they give we will try and chase it down.  We will play for the win"
May be this statement by Kohli set Johnson on fire.  And even Steve Smith must have had a little doubt what if Indians really chase it down,  because they came really close in the first test.  May be that's why he didn't declare the innings earlier.

The Australians were fired up by Kohli came hard at him and other Indians,  but couldn't manage to wrap up the innings in the 66 overs that they bowled. 

Hope that the Indian bowlers will continue their form of 'bowling in one area ' in the last test match.  And Vijay,  Kohli,  Rahane continue their red hot form,  wherein Pujara and Dhawan need to get some runs in the Sydney test. 

It was really fascinating to watch the full test match..  Even if that meant waking up early morning at 5, in this chilly winter. Wish it could have been early declaration by Australia to see a result of one team winning rather than a draw.  Never the less it was a real thriller! 

Yes, we lost badly once again! :(

Yes, we lost very badly once again! It was a shameful performance by our team! Our team is going through a big transition period, with all the great players retired! All the players were playing 5 match series for the first time! The players were getting tired and most of them admitted that! Our most experienced bowler was 50 test matches old! Taking into account all these things, our bowlers did a decent job! Bhuvi was brilliant in first half of the series! Actually Vijay and Rahane were good as well (they were fresh then)! Murli Vijay's leaves outside the off stumps were admirable in the whole series, he was the only one along with Rahane who really looked like they wanted to stay there and score runs! Apart from them Ishant Sharma's bouncy spell at Lord's was just too good wfor the hosts!! And after that the things turned around! Ishant got injured, Jadeja vs Anderson spat came into light and downfall of our team started!
But from my point of view the real turning point of the series would be the dropped catch by Jadeja of Cook in third test match, it was an easy chance, the debutant Pankaj Singh would have got a boost, Cook would have got his confidence back that he got after scoring 70 odd runs... The slip fielders and the keeper has many let downs in this series, fielding of our team has been below par, considering a pretty young bunch of people. The things have gone and they will not come back!
 Hard decisions should be taken now! As Ganguly, Wasim Akram, Nasir Hossein were saying, Indian young lads like Rahane, Pujara, Kohli should make up their mind and go and play one full county season! It is a hard toil, they will get the exposure that they require and will be able to play in any kinds of situations (Ganguly, N.Hosseins opinions on Air)!
Questions are being raised on MS Dhoni's captaincy records outside subcontinent. He was a lone warrior if we talk about his batting, but he never looked comfortable in the middle, he showed lot of resistance and made some runs. But Yes, now I also feel that Dhoni should be hanging his captaincy shoes now (For Test matches)! But when you look at the players, you will find that there is no one to take the Test Captaincy as of now! Captain in making Virat Kohli is struggling for his own form, Gambhir's career seems to be ending, Rohit Sharma is yet to make his mark in Tests, who else can Captain the side then? Due to lack of resources I don't think that Dhoni will hang his shoes (I strongly believe if he has a option he should hang his shoes now)!!

Our players certainly have the ability to play better than this and I am sure they will play better in near future! They have let all of us (the true supporters) down but They will make us proud once again!
All the best!!!

If you think whole IPL-6 was fixed...and Why IPL must go on

If you think whole IPL-6 was fixed......
               

    Apart from 3 RR players, other people have been accused because of betting and not fixing! Betting is illegal in India! But "Betting" doesn't prove that someone has "Fixed" a match! 

         Many were saying that the whole IPL was fixed when the Police arrested Shreesanth, Chandila and Ankit Chavan... and then Vindoo Dara Singh, CSK's team principal Gurunath Meiyappan and many more Betters! 

      

         From my understanding, Spot fixing and Match Fixing and Tournament Fixing are very different from each other. To fix a match, one of the 2 teams will play really bad cricket intentionally. And to fix a tournament, I don't think only one team's participation in fixing is enough. 

     

       So when you say that the whole tournament is fixed, you unintentionally accuse each and every player playing the tournament. That means, you are accusing the legends of cricket like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and many more. Without them knowing about it, it would never happen. So when you say that the whole IPL was fixed you are questioning the "fair play" of these legends. You must take into account these factors, when you criticize the whole tournament.

        And if you think that everything is fixed,  then why do you watch the matches? If you think that all is fixed then just switch off your TV sets and never watch! Others (real cricket fans) who believe that this is pure cricket, let them watch peacefully!!

Why IPL must go on.....

            

            IPL is a mega event. From young cricketers' perspective it's a huge opportunity to prove themselves on International Level. IPL is telecast all over the world, attracting people from non-cricket playing nations as well. And one bad incident doesn't mean that whole tournament is bad.
       
           Young domestic players get a golden opportunity to play against and with world class cricket players. They get a chance to prove themselves, they emerge as heroes. This is what Amit Mishra thinks about IPL- "IPL has helped a lot to improve my bowling having competed with the best batsmen in the world. In fact, most of the talent in Indian cricket is coming through IPL as it is providing an ideal platform to the talented players." 
          Do you remember when Fixing Scandal (Test Matches) of Hansie Cronje, Azaruddin, Ajay Jadeja came into light, people were really upset and angry, but that didn't ban Test Cricket. It's not about running away from what we face, but to face it, try to improve it and make it more successful!! THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!!

        We have to nullify the politician's effect and the corrupt people from the BCCI and let the former cricket players handle the country's topmost cricket board. Supreme Court has done a really good job to appoint Mr. Sunil Gavaskar to handle IPL-7 related issues. I still feel that he should have been given full charge of the BCCI making him the President for every cricketing issue.

(pic courtsey- marketplaceimages.windowsphone.com)

I am with you Yuvi....and team India

                        Sometimes when I hear news like Yuvi's home being pelted, I feel very very disappointed. What kind of mentality these people have???                        
                     
                                 All who are abusing and blaming Yuvi for the defeat are the same people who celebrated when we won the 2011 WC n Yuvi was the Man of The Series... If you can't back a player in his bad times then you certainly don't deserve to celebrate his good times! This is totally horrible!!! I don't think it was Yuvi's fault at all.... it was little bit of msd's fault to send Yuvi ahead of Raina... but again, he has been done that in the previous matches also! And he clarified in the press conference that "Raina can get going from the first ball he faces, but Yuvi needs some time to settle down, so he sent him ahead of Raina." But it wasn't Yuvi's day! It can happen with each and every cricket player. Even with the other sports athletes. 
The sad face that Yuvi had in India's fielding was heartbreaking. Really no one wants to play bad cricket. That's why, I feel sorry of Yuvi....
               Sri Lankan bowlers were spot on in death overs... Even Kohli and Dhoni weren't able to time the ball!!! And that's what cost India! 
        
           Another factor I feel is important, why India lost is the fact that Sri Lanka were in Bangladesh since January ending. Playing a full tour against Bangladesh, then winning the Asia Cup! They were well acclimatized to the conditions along with the hosts Bangladesh.  

                         And if you think that match was fixed, it isn't your fault, the atmosphere around Indian Cricket is highly responsible for that... This is ICC's event guys.... High security is maintained....  
 and if its proved that this match was fixed then I am one of the idiots who watch cricket thinking that it's not fixed at all.... 

                   What I feel Yuvi should do now, He will be playing the IPL season 7 from the RCB. It is a great opportunity for someone like Yuvi, to play under in-form Virat Kohli. Kohli will certainly boost Yuvi's confidence. And that will be a great opportunity for Yuvi to come back in form, get a few runs, hit few sixes, grab some wickets....!! If he doesn't retire (I suppose he won't) he will play the ICC-Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand. And I am sure he will be eyeing to answer all his "NOW-TURNed Haters" what he can actually do! MS Dhoni will back him for sure! He is a world class all-rounder after all!!! :)

Sometimes you need to give credits to the oppositions... 
            Well Played Sri Lanka... and Yuvi, you are certainly one of the best player!! I am with you.... good times, bad times I will always support men in blue for my whole life! LEARN TO SUPPORT THE PLAYERS DURING THEIR BAD TIMES... NO ONE IS BORN PERFECT