I agree with you about South Africa. Australia will always remain a top 3 side but South Africa might edge Australia out eventually because Australia are now without Gilchrist, Warne and McGrath. Hayden will not stay for more than a year so the Australian side cannot be no 1 for much longer. The players that have replaced these seniors are good but it takes time for everyone to settle and become world class like Warne and McGrath.

Meanwhile South Africa have also seen Pollock departing but they have a very good pace attack and very strong batting. Smith, De Villiers, Amla, Kallis, McKenzie, Gibbs, Prince- this is a dream batting line up. In terms of fielding they are slightly better than Australia.

South Africa have enormous raw talent but they still don’t have the aggression and never-say-die attitude of the Aussies. They need to build on that if they are to become world champions. They are also chokers, so they tend to lose the initiative in big matches. If they can nurture their mental strength they will become an unstoppable force and only Australia will be able to compete with them.

India also has the raw talent to be the no 1 or no 2 side, but India’s only problem is consistency. If it starts winning matches more regularly cricket will become a more interesting sport all of a sudden because whereas 2 or 3 years ago Australia was just unstoppable, they seem relatively vulnerable now and India and South Africa have benefited from some amazing talent in the past few years.

When I look at the players in the Australian and South African sides I feel very disappointed realising how much work PCB needs to do in order for Pakistani players to attain that level. Unfortunately we had bowlers like Asif and Shoaib Akhtar who could compete with Australians and South Africans but they have let themselves down and let the whole nation down.

Meanwhile sudden news about Michael vaughn who has resigned from captaincy following Engalnds series defeat yesterday as well as Paul collingwood resigning from the one day leadership. A new cpatain will be appointed fro England. To appoint kp will bwe dybolical as he doesn’t seem to have captaincy material and ovcourse could affect his personal performance. I would recommend Strauus as a canidate as he has county experience howver, he isn’t in the one day side so therefore I suggest kp does the one day captaincy or an experienced cpatain like key should be appointed and put in the England one day set up.It’s going to be a tough one for the selectors so I hope they make it wise and sencible.

Regarding the test match boy Graaeme Smith what a captain innings as RSA win yet another series. They are now the 2nd best side in the world following Australia and in my opinion are the future world champions.

Although India’s lead of 305 or whatever may have appeared not sufficient but, the way Ishant and Zaheer started to bowl it was good enough reason to say that they can win easily especially after 10/3 the pressure was on SL to survive.

I was watching live with my cousin who arrived from the US and shall be staying with me for a week and we watched till 3:30 a.m. after Dilshan was out there wasn’t much interest left it was only a matter of formality to wrap up the match. Like Mendis, Bhajji also get a 10 wicket haul.

Thats good, are you guys happy now? Especially Amit and Pawan the skeptics.

Now there is life back in the series and India should not give up from here in fact they should carry on this form and they should not make any changes in the third test, but I guess they will drop Karthik and try Patel.

Amit, the line that we are talking about is more obvious when it is shown as a virtual 12″ wide red path whereas in reality there is no such thing and the umpire has to rely on his own judgment and that too in the split of a second, so its very hard for him to decide straightaway and as a human being we all err at times.

About Murali’s doosra. Last while watching the match I reminded my cousin about what Bhishen Singh Bedi said, “No matter how many wickets he may take….” that famous quote of Bedi. He said, no the best one from Bedi is, when someone said, “Murali ka doosra sahee nahee hai… Bedi replied doosra kya? Uska pehla hee sahee nahee hai.” So, you have said it.

Actually the way I see it is when he delivers the ball, there is a spring type jerk that is obvious, there is no smooth movement or completion of his bowling action. The more you put pressure on the wrist with a jerk, the more the ball will spin.

Anyways, I am glad its All Inda way now, otherwise this Gunner promoted to Second Lieutenant would have become a Major or a Colonel in the army. Like they made Dhoni Superintendent of Police in no time and Dhoni used to go to Thana on his motor-bike with his long shoulder length hair. Now, he is so filthy rich that he doesn’t need any job.

khansahab

yea i also remember reading somewhere about Gambhir studying Mendis. IMO mendis should try to get as many scalps before ppl start realizing this “mystery”.

Amit p

agreed murali chucks even while his normal bowling. its so unfair man he has got hundreds of wickets with such controversial action. cricket laws have loopholes and loopholes with always get exploited. i think people would have called murali more often if they werent scared of being branded racists. most people will agree warne was miles better than murali because warne had a clean action.

Some quick points i wud like to add.

1) Murli’s delivery wasn’t front foot no-ball .. it was legitimate delivery.

2) As rule says —- If a batsman is playing his shot and ball hit him outside line of the off stump then he cant be out, irrespective of whether ball is knocking middle stump or wat… it doesnt matter whether ball is pitched outside off or in the line. In dravid case ball has hit him 60% inline and 40% outside off .. it was too marginal to be changed by third umpire. If doctrov had given him out then too it was ok decision .. and by no means his decision cud be changed by third umpire by such a close mean relying on technology.

3) As per schedule, i think Rudy kirsten was third umpire but somehow he didnt make it there, so this SL umpire is doing his job of third umpire .. its just a guess and i am not 100% sure. If this guy can give dravid out then he shud have given warnapura too .. his was also very marginal. But i have no complaints against that decision, i m just putting things in perspective.

4) About murli action ….. Except Aus every country now accepted his doosra as legitimate delivery …. only aussies are rigid on their stand. IF u ask why murli is a mediocre on auss pitches then have a look at those matches .. he hardly bowled doosra there .. just due to pressure of being in controversy once again. If u ask my personal opinion on his action then …
forget ab’t his doosra he even chucks while bowling his off-spinners . I cant differentiate his normal and wrong-one actions … for me everything is same and is chucking. Now u ask me whether i like him or not .. then over the years i too get accoustomed with his action …. and now i very much enjoy his bowling.

As usual your analysis are good and in detail and from what you have expressed (because I did not see Dravid’s dismissal so my view is based on yours and Amit’s comments) there aren’t two things but, three and the third one is very important.

You have said that Murali in fact bowled a no-ball by crossing the line and the umpire did not see hence he did not ask the third umpire for that. My point is if the technology is there to make a fair assessment of the situation then the third umpire should have pointed out that its a no-ball and suggested to the field umpire that its a no-ball and everything else must be nullified – He should have used his veto power by saying Dravid is not out.

The points that you are highlighting is:

1. The ball pitching outside the line ……… if it is pitched outside the leg stump then obviously it is not out, when it is pitched outside the off-stump and turning towards the stumps as if to hit the stumps and, for a no-stroke he is definitely out and for trying to play a shot and missing the ball, it needs to be seen from every angle. The Hawk Eye is only a guidance its not 100% correct. ( I am forgetting the exact word and using the word “guidance” here). It can only suggest that the ball may have traveled in that trajectory and direction.

2. As regards the distance of stretching 2 meters. Yesterday, in Ishant Sharma’s case the distance was 2 1/4 meters because he has long legs (and no Butt) yet he was given out because the ball was keeping very low and was going to hit the stumps for sure. Until and unless I see Dravid’s case I won’t be able to say anything conclusively. But, its a known fact that benefit of doubt always goes to the batsman and thats the practice of cricket since hundreds of years. Even with technology you can’t be 100% sure all the time.

And, I do agree with you that the batsman when he is leaving the ground should be fully satisfied that he was out and not victimized by the umpire with a poor decision.

I also agree with you about the third umpire, he MUST be neutral otherwise whats the point of having a third umpire?

I agree with your suggestion that the best thing to do would be to not get carried aways and lose your wickets. It is very important for India to win this match. If they win their confidence will be high going into the 3rd Test and we may see Dravid and possibly Ganguly being given another chance to resurrect their form. Kumble’s captaincy will remain in tact and what happened in the 1st Test would be more or less forgotten.

The chances look 65% in India’s favour to me at the moment. If India manage to give Sri Lanka a target of 300+ then they can’t lose the match. This pitch looks like it will produce a result and the spin will assist Kumble and Harbhajan greatly on the final day. So provided India can keep their cool and patience they are likely to win. Something tells me the 3rd Test will end up as a draw.

I read a very interesting piece of news today. Gambhir was asked how he could play Mendis so well in this match and he said, he has started reading Mendis now by focusing on his fingers just before he releases the ball. So we were right on this blog when we said Mendis’ mystery will one day be unravelled. Unless Mendis starts jerking his arm like Murali to produce substantial spin people will definitely solve this mystery behind his finger positions and grips.

I understand your point about Wasim Akram now, when a person becomes notorious for large scale betting and match fixing scandals not to mention drugs and alcohol abuse, one can lose respect for him. If only Wasim, Waqar, Salim Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif etc had kept out of this mess they would have been loved much more.
It is very humble, unbiased and open hearted for you to admit that in your opinion only Bradman, Lara and Tendulkar are legends. I say this because you have not placed any Pakistani in that list and also because despite being Pakistani you have placed Tendulkar in that list. Bradman must have been a genius to average 99 in such an era where bowling actions were not heavily scrutinised and batsmen used to wear hardly any protective gear. About Tendulkar, he is not in my list of favourite players (although his contemporary, Rahul Dravid, is and will always be) but his gargantuan achievements can be seen from his statistics. One thing I will definitely say though is, maybe I don’t understand cricket as well as it may appear, but perhaps no player is as good as Tendulkar when it comes to “creating shots” out of the blue, such as playing a ball outside off stump to mid wicket, cutting the ball for six, moving aside from the stumps to create “a room” and hitting the ball for six over extra cover etc etc.

When I posted my last comment on this blog the score was 200 for 2 and for me it was early morning and I had to attend something important related to my work, so I left and now when I come back to see the same score with two more wickets down within 6 balls. This is pathetic. I cannot understand how this could have happen. You are talking about the review, appeal etc. I have no clue because I didn’t see and I have a feeling that Billy Doctrove got carried away because Murali has a reputation to be a great bowler. I have already written a lot about his doosra and what more can I say? But, how come Tendulkar got out when he was looking in good nick, did he threw away his wicket like Sehwag? Actually Dilshan took a stunning catch over his head in the point region and thats Sehwag’s weakness. Also, he didn’t middle the ball so he paid the price.

Like you have rightly said, it is up to these two batsmen to show how good they are and how great they were, they definitely need to stretch it up to tea. I quiet agree with you that post lunch and pre tea is always an easy time to score. They need to stretch the lead to 330-340 at least to be able to put them under pressure. Even 300 would be difficult for SL but, you never know.

khansahab

I won’t call Wasim Akram a legend because of so many reasons but, I certainly rate him as a very good bowler, one of the most dangerous left hander not only for Pakistan but he is world class. But, Wasim has done so much damage to the game of cricket in Pakistan and brought a lot of ill-repute to the country because of his alleged involvement in betting that it does not equate his legendary accomplishments and he can never be called a legend. In my books, in the game of cricket, only Bradman, Tendulkar and Lara are legends and no one else.

I told you about Nadia Khan that the way she is acting now like a 17 year old doesn’t suit the personality of a matured woman of 29 and obviously the Urdu expression, “Buddi Ghori Laal Lagaam,” befits her personality. She needs to grow up or give up (the show).