Black Tour for the Black Caps

So Daniel Vettori is planning a vacation and the destination is ….  definitely not the Indian subcontinent. In the last couple of months, NZ skipper along with his Black Caps have played 10 One Day Internationals, or ODIs, distributed evenly between India and Bangladesh. Never would they have imagined the outcome of all those 10 ODIs. NZ managed to lose each of them and while the 5-0 result in this series shouldn’t be surprising, India did offer them a chance by resting all their key players.

So what’s wrong with the Kiwis. They started out well in the test series against India after a 5-0 humiliation against Bangladesh, and convincingly drew the first two games. Surely the pitches weren’t helpful either and Harbahajan Singh’s comment that “ The pitch curator should get a contract to build national highways” sums it up appropriately. In the third test though, India were back and shut out NZ in an expected manner. A 1-0 series loss didn’t look to bad for the Black caps though.

The ODIs again showed the inability of the kiwi batsman to adapt in foreign conditions like the subcontinent. A 5-0 loss to Bangladesh was purely as a result of the lack of experience of playing against top spinners. Shakib Al-Hasas and Abdur Razzaq have been bowling well for Bangladesh and NZ hardly got runs against them. Similarly in the first three games against India, their batsman hardly challenged India with a total and when they finally did in the fourth ODI, Yusuf Pathan had other ideas. India were definitely playing a second string side but were still expected to win all after Bangladesh’s 5-0 win. The fifth game just summed up one of New Zealand’s most disappointing seasons in recent years. All out in 27 overs and India had won even before a regular innings break! Well, they’ll soon be playing another Asian side in Pakistan and while I don’t expect them to lose all again, Pakistan could prove to be dangerous opponents.

And just when they’d had enough of the Asian opponents, Vettori and his team will back in two months time for the biggest tournament of all; World Cup 2011. Again they’ll be playing on Asian pitches, and again they’ll be facing a strong, vociferous and partisan home crowd. The good thing for NZ is that nothing can get worse from now on. The other good thing is that they now have enough experience of these conditions and should be better players when they arrive back for World Cup. At least I hope to see them start winning some games and do a bit better in the World Cup.

 I am not sure of the statistics, but I think this could be the first time ever that INDIA was unbeaten at home!! It has been a great year for Indian cricket and its surely time for India to win a series in SA while continuing their great form in 2010 !!!

Spirit of Cricket or the lack of it !!!

India and Sri Lanka "have been playing each other almost every second month in the last eight months" in the words of India's best spinner Harbhajan Singh which clearly shows that the India - Sri Lanka rivalry is not only becoming common but also boring to watch and PLAY for the cricketers. At least there was something uncommon about today's game (16th August 2010). The scorecard will show Virender Sehwag unbeaten on 99. For someone who missed watching the game, there are bound to be questions like how could he not score that one extra run or did the other batsman, Dhoni in this scenario, score the winning runs or was there an extra conceded by the bowlers.

Well!!! International Cricket Council (ICC) has been trying hard to imbibe the Spirit of Cricket theme in each of the cricket playing nation's players and even named the recent Australia Vs Pakistan series as the Spirit of Cricket series. This one delivery bowled by Suraj Randiv changes all that. Lacking sportsman spirit, Randiv deliberately bowled a "no-ball" wherein he overstepped by such a large amount that he has made himself a laughing stock in front of the entire cricketing fraternity. Sehwag as usual smashed it over long-off for a huge six and raised his bat in celebration, only to be told moments later that his six will not be considered , as India had already won on account of the no-ball. Rightly so, Sehwag was disappointed and retorted by saying "This is not the first time Sri Lanka has done this, they may have done it with other teams but with India it is the second time." The first time they did that was when Lasith Malinga bowled a wide down the leg side and conceded 4 wides while Sehwag's idol Sachin Tendulkar was left unbeaten on 96.

Randiv might deny his deliberate no-ball attempt but this incident has already put his young and budding carrier on a controversial path. Cricket fans around the world seem to echo the notion that in spite of what happens when a no-ball is bowled, the runs scored by a batsman should be added to his tally. While this controversy has just started to flow across websites and blogs throughout the world, ICC officials and match referees will be pondering whether to take some action against Randiv and whether they can make some minor "tweeks" in the rules of this beautiful Gentleman's game.

We'll wait and see what happens later but for now, lets rejoice this Indian win and a bonus point which will give us an advantage in the next round of the ongoing  tri-series. Go India !!!