ANGELO MATHEWS-A cricketer with a flavor of Instinct,Skill& willpower for survival

Angelo Mathews ,a Srilankan Cricketer is famous for his fighting spirit for survival& win.the In the Second test match between Srilanka& Newzealand on the final day Srilankans were in a desperate situation .they needed 256 runs from 3 sessions With 5 of their top batsmen back in Pavilion. Angelo Mathews, once again rose to the occasion&showed his instinct working & put them Into practice despite witnessing his partners falling one by one.He played 2 complet sessions& half an hour more on the fibmnal session. Eventually he fell due to lack of concentration allowing Newzealand a hard-fought Match.The body language of the New Zealanders indicated their relief on their faces. They won the match by 167 runs. Mathews during the course of presence at the crease reduced the huge target of 256 runs to a manageable 168or at least for a probability of making it into a Tame draw. His personal contribution was 84.At least he deserved a ton.But fate of Srilankans thought differently.

A GAME OF CHANCE-A FASCINATING ONE TOO!

After watching the second Cricket Test Match at Wankhedes ,Mumbai on Television I was reluctant to write any more Blog on Cricket due to the miserable performance from Indian Batsmen But then, Cricket is a mindturner &a Glorious game of Uncertainty.It has been proved time&again in various venues all over the world where Cricket is being played. I like to prove this beyond doubt once again. This is, in fact,the reason for this Blog!. A typical example to prove this is yet another Test Match between two leading countries Newzealand&Pakistan staged at Hamilton scheduled to be played on 7,8,9,10&11th January 2011. Newzealand opted to bat first to derive the home advantage effectively. In their First Innings Newzealand was able to score a respectable 275 . Then ,Pakistan started their first innings&scored a slightly better score to finish at 367. Pakistan jut secured a lead of 92 runs. Then came back Newzealand who are well known to be born fighters especially when they play at home. Almost everyone estimated either a draw or a win for Newzealand becaudse they had their leading batsmen like B.Mecculum,Rose Tailor &a few more hard hitters. BGut Alas!on the third day they could just manage just a paltry 110 runs!!! Pakistan,naturally,overjoyed about their performance because they had conceded just a lead of 18 runs needing 19 for them to make a win. Eventualy ,the inevitable had happened giving Pakistan a Glorious win in Newzealand on the 3rd day on 9th Jan2011. Now,let us compare this very recent game with what happened at Wankhedes on 26th November 2012. The match was scheduled to play on 23,24,25,26,&27th November 2012. India opted to bat first after winning the Toss to take advantage of the homeground. India started playing well, thanks to Thejeswar Poojara who was injured later when fielding,who did yet another wonderful performance. India finished 1st innings at a healthy figure of 327 on board. England first outing followed .They did extremely well finishing at 413 taking a lead of just 86 runs. India being one of the Best batting side in the world of Cricket every one including leading commentators&reported a tuff competion&liklyhood of yet another victory for India simply for tyhe reason that Mumbai like Kolkatta rarely winessed defeat for India at Wankhedes. But Alas ! what happened!.India finished their second outing at just 142 on board with an ignorable lead &England eventually on the 4th dayon 26th November. The above two matches are similar on many respects which are obvious not needing any details from me. Now once again it has been proved beyond doubt that "CRICKET IS A GLORIOUS GAME OF UNCERTAINTY" Now ,T%he series not yet finished 2 more Tests &a few games of smaller versions are scheduled until27th of January2013. So friends my earnest wish is that Sachin Tendulkar is needed for India more than ever now.His presence in the team is a must. He has earned every honour in the book of Cricket for his Motherland. It is true that in the last around 10 innings he has not scored many runs.But his technical skill he had exhibited is more than enough to include him He might have an intention in his mind to earn 200 Test Caps to establish yet another record for India,perhaps ,the only one has left behind until now. So let us await Test matches at Kolkatta&Nagpur with Sachin in the squad .There is n change in team as announced. Poojara,Kohli&Yuvraj Singh would ,I am sure,perform their best at Kolkatta&Nagpur to get yet another honour bestowed on thier darling Teammate. All the Best to England&India. SreedharanMundanat 28th November2012 13-50 hrs(IST)

India in Agony&desperation

A lot of expectations were on India in the morning when they conceded just 86 runs at the stroke of lunch at 11-30AM(IST). All the expectations of Indian fan had natural death by the evening. Gloom prevailed over Wankhede&darkness in the ninds of every cricket lover,when they saw all the leading batsmen fell like ripe mangoes or rather like a pack of cards at stumps on day3. A lead of 225 runs could have been sufficient to remove Englishmen as is obvious, the way Monte Panesar a spinner from England did. But whats the use of crying over spilt milk? But these things are not unusual in cricket. This has happenrd all over the cricket playing countries also. Thats why this game is called a "GLORIOUS GAME OF UNCERTAINTY" In 1983 this had happened to the uncrowned king of Cricket WEST INDIES. West Indies was reigning over the cricket world with 3 straight wins in the World CricketCup. They had the skipper Clive Llyod,Vivian Richards,Haynes,Greenidge,Kallicharran,Hall,Griffith,Malcom Marshal&many more in their team. But they lost the World Cup to India who had scored just under 200 runs.It was a topic for discussion for a long time when West could not achieve a target put up by India. In the same World Cup Zimbabwe a team ,even unknown to many then, was about to beat India to knock her out of the Tournament.But then,Kapil Dev the skipper of India rose to the occasion &scored an unbeaten 175 runs which enabled India to reach the final against West Indies. There was none today to rise to the occasion other than Goutam Gambhir ,who is still at the crease with a hard earned 50 . Harbhajan singh is giving company to him to face the inevitable tomorrow. In the last world Cup in in India ,Australia&Srilanka were sure to reach final. But both were defeated by India.India eventually lifted the World Cup.Ricky Ponting and Sangakkara had to resign from captaincy. So anything can happen tomorrow. Let us wish success to this Glorious game of ncertainty. Bye. SreedharanMundanat 25th November 2012 18-25 Hrs(IST)

ERROR IN JUDGEMENT

Sorry Friends. There was a serious error in the Blog of Yesterday on "England'sDay" I was under the wrong impression that England was following on.An effect of getting too much absorbed in Cricket.The First Test Match was still haunting me as otherwise there wasnt any need to afford 500 runs margin to England on 25th November 2012. The error is deeply regretted. As regards the game of today(26th November) the Indian decision to stick to Spinners alone initially gave oportunity for Coock&Pirtersen to smash every ball bowled. It is not known as to whether there was any Dews factor at all at the Wankhedes today. Any ways,the field placement&fielding by Indians gave ample chance for England to score a massive total of413/10 conceding a lead of 86 Runs. Nothwithstanding this,India still has a thin ray of hope to score very fast like England did&if they could make a lead of 225 shortly after lunch tomorrow&declare it could be difficult to meet the target by England The chances of spinners striking rapidly is also possible, depending upon the behaviour of the Wankhede pitch on the final day. If things turn out to be favouring India,a dramatic finish to take a lead of 2-0 in favour of India can not be totally ruled out. Let us hope for the Best&at the same time wish every good luck to England to make this match a forced Tame draw. In this case the lead of India would be in tact at 1-0 in the Test series. The happening in the reverse ,can not be even imagined for the Indians. Once again sorry for yesterday's Error in judgement yesterday SreedharanMundanat 26th November2012, 14-50 hrs(IST)

England's Day

Today ,though Indian spinners claimed 2 important wickets,belonged to England.KPietersen&CaptainCook

were allowed to build&set up to a healthy total of178/2 at stumps.

It seems these Cookies wont crumble easily

The day started interestingly for India.Dhoni continued with his trusted BowlersSahir Khan,Ojha&Aswin

until24 overs 52/0 for theb visitors.Then he introduced the Turbanator who bowled few overs steadily

&economically


all of a sudden Dhon,it seems,decided to give rest to Aswin&reintroduced Ojha In the second ball of his

second ball of his first over in the nrw spell,Ojha struck a severe blow by trapping in front to remove

Compton at 66/1Compton walked back desperately to the pavilion.

Jonathan Trott reached crease  as number3 .He was also removed  by Ojha shortly after for a duck

well caught by Sehwag off an outside edge.England were 68/2.

Therafter until stumps it was rather an exhibition of Agony for India as Cook&Pietersen started building up.

A few firm appeals for LBW were rejected by the Umpires adding insult to injury to the Indians.

India bowled a total of 65 overs to establish the partnership between Cook&Pietersen.

Englans looks all set to make a mammoth Score with Bell yet to step in.

But the morning dews at Wankhede,could help to write a different story  tomorrow, asSahirKhan&

company might be expecting  to  work overtime .

In any case,England  not making a mammoth score  over 500,India could still hope for a victorious

second Test match in Mumbai, the birthplace of Indian Cricket.In other words, India should ensure that

England is not allowed to make more than 173 runs tomorrow.

All the Best to  England&India

                                               SreedharanMundanat
                                                24th November2012
                                               19.05 Hrs(IST)

A Surprising oddity

Abul Hassan ,a debutant 20 year old Test cricketer  in No 10 position , surprised the entire cricket world

in the second Test match against West Indies when he made 113 runs to take Bangladesh to a respectable score of 387 Runs..In fact ,the entire cricket world at Bangladesh got stranded.

But then, who doesnt like a debutant making a Ton in no 10 position?

Every one might have congratulated him at least in their mind.Chris Gayle , the giant Batsman of T20 Cricket, was the first to praise him.

The test match is still in progress&it kooks WI is marked for a win with a double Ton from Samuels &Chandrapaul in full form with Ton.

Whatever may be the outcome of the match,the picture of Abul Hassan, the surprising Oddity  of world of

cricket, would remain in the hearts of evry sportsloving people of the world.

All the Best to Abul Hassan for building up his cricketing carrier effectively&efficiently.

                                   SreedharanMundanat
                                   24th November 2012

The discovery of a Gifted Cricketer(Batsman)

India finally discovered yet another Gifted Batsman in Thejeswar Poojara.

The second Test match India vsEngland is turning into more interesting one than the first.

India can be proud of finding a dependable  batsman who is likekly to keep up her Prestige for a long time.

Poojara played with maximum patience,caution&control to lift India &rescue her from a possible disaster!

During his day he committed just one minor error when he was at 93 trying for a second run which wasnt there.But he realised it on time &retrieved his crease before England fielders could inflict a damage.

At one stage India was in a desperates situation at 119/5 ,the leading batsmen became victims of Momte Panesar ,Swann&Anderson.

What Sunil Gavaskar, the onetime Great batsman&Skipper of Undia,said was about to turn out to be true,Poojara &Capt Dhoni rose to the occasion &avoided what could have been a total disaster.

Gavaskar had said the decision to bat in a spinning wicket might backfire.

England could not overcome the resistacnce caused initially by Poojara&Dhoni &later on by ASWIN &pOOJARA.The final score at stumps was a healthy score of 266/6 which  itself more than enough to rattle England with 3 specialist Spinners at the disposal of India in a spinfriendly wicket. at Wankhede,Mumbai.

Poojara made 114/279 Balls&Aswin's healthy contribution was 60 from 69 balls/

Thejeswar Poojara carried the bat in both innings of First tst&on the first daty of Second Test.

In total without getting out he has scored 2 centuries thereby contributing 379 Runs from 3 inningsr emaining all the way not out.Avery rare phenomenon he could be proud of himself.

What a neat&clean century was today's!!!

England could not find any use from their most recognised Pacer Stuart Broad who bowled 12 overs in 4 spells without success.

The star of the day Thejeswar Poojara &the hero of the Day Aswin who played second fiddle to his partner with 60 glorious runs.

4more days left,England wiil have to sweat a lot to avoid a second defeat.

                             SreeddharanMundanat
                             23rd November 2012

Second Cricket Test match between England&India

The Second Cricket Test Match between England&India is scheduled to start at Mumbai,the Motherland  of Sachin Tendulkar on 23rd November2012.There are no records left in the vacabulary of Cricket for Sachin to achieve ,it looks!

Sachin when he was a schoolboy who studied in a famous school nat Dadar ,Mumbai had .\,perhaps,made the first record of school cricket in the company of Vinod Kambli ie the highest partnership over 500 runs in school cricket with his classmate.Their regular coach was Shri Achrekar who moulded them well.

Howevwer,Vinod Kambli one of the best lefthanders in Test cricket in  India   had to leave the game behind for reasons best known to him.

Sachin Tendulkar, however,continues with his Cricket carrier &is still continuing in Test cricket for India.

He achieved all sorts of records in Cricket the best being the highest number of centuries in International cricket.Other intesresting records he has are the highest number of runs in Test Cricket&oneday internationals.

His record of highest number of centuries , however, could remain in tact for a long time to come.

There are two Indian Cricketers capable of breaking the record .They areVirat Kohli&Thejeswar Poojara.

The best records for Sachin ,as far as I  could remember ,is the honourVIZ he was the only cricketer from

indiawho was invited to his residence by Sir Donald Bradman,the legend of cricket, to wish him every endeavour&success in Cricket.

The next Best is the one awarded to him by The Prime Minister of Australia recently for his extraordinary

brilliance in Cricket.The name of the award is "Order of Australia" .

As regards the selection of playing eleven for India is yet to be decided.

But it is almost certain that Sachin would be in the final eleven.Perhaps ,this could be the last appearence in

Test Cricket for Sachin Tendulkar as seen from his body language  in first Test when he got out at 13runs.

Umesh Yadav ,who appears to have got injured ,is likely to sit at the pavilion ,the replacement for him is

likely to be Dinda.

In any case ,it is almost certain for the Spectoters at Mumbai to enjoy yet another Grandfeast starting tomorrow.(23rd November 2012)

All the Best to England&India

                                              SreedharanMundanat
                                               22nd Nov(13-10 hrs)

Graceful return of a favour of lesson from India to England

In Vallabhai Patel Stadium,Ahmedabad today(19th Nov2012)Veerendar Sehwag&Thejeswara Poojara

in the post lunch session returned  favour of a  lessonby England gracefully, in equal terms,if not better.

Needing 77 Runs to win&sehwag&Poojara together scored 57 out of it from just 59 balls.

Sehwag ,however,returned to the pavilion trying to hit a bigger one than4

But it did not matter much for India ,except for the fact that a glorious victory  by 10 Wicket was reduced to

9wickets which also reduced the charm of the Victory to an extent.

In any case,the firework from Sehwag&Poojara was not merely an ordinary feast for the enthusisstic Indian

spectactors but a grand feast they have not seen in the near past from Indian Batsmen.

India won the Test match with pride &also solved the problem of finding suitable opening Partners amicably

to some extent.Poojara scored 41 from 51 balls.with 8 big hits to the fence.

And Kohli hit 14 from 21 balls with 3 good hits to the fence.He also hammered the last nail in the

victorious  Test against England

The Bowler Ojha bagged 11 precious wickets for India from the 2 innings

The victory,indeed,was  a  pleasant experience for Indian cricketers&fans since the last Test series against

England,even though a question mak still remains as to who did better The Bowlers or Batsmen?

According to me ,The Glorious Game of Uncertainty was the winner&star of the Day

                                 SreedharanMundanat
                                  19thNov2012,14-40 hrs(IST)

A Glorious Game of Uncertainty

It was a hectic day for 13 Testcricketers at the Vallabhai Patel Stadium,Ahmedabad ,India today.

England demonstrated a lesson to the IndianBatsmen how to survive tense &ceitical  sutuation.

This they did with a normal rate of fast scoring by executing elegant&powerful shots.

It was their first task to put Indians to bat a second time despite the mamoth first innings score they put

forward to England as a challenge.They not only accepted &met the challenge but made a lead of 10 runs

as well.The 5th wicket fell at 199.Alistair Cook&Matt Prior  added 141 invaluable runs to return to the

pavilion with a promise of yet another hectic day.

Indeed! a good lesson  for the Indians who usially succumb to pressure &concede defeat under similar

situation  particularly when they play abroad.

Although this is not unusual in Test Cricket,there was a lot of fuss over a trivial matter in the Stadium as

could be seen from the body languages of the spectatorsThe England supporters  even showed comic

Dances ,perhaps ,with a view to mocking at the Indian Cricketers.

This too is not unusual with the cricket spectators all over the World where cricket is being played!

Perhaps,this is also one of the reasons for calling Cricket a Glorious Game of Uncertainty.

With one more full day of 90 overs left ,cricket would be proving it time and again!.

Let us await the outcome of this Glorious game tomorrow at the Vallabhai Patel Stadium.

Bye.

                 SreedharanMundanat

                 18th November 2012

          

Efficient Anchoring&Elegant Technical Batting

Thejeswar Poojara&Yuvaraj singh today at Vallabhai Stadium  made an exhibition of how to play cricket

in the right way,.

Poojara in his batting with the main role of an anchor showed how it could be done efficiently in two hours

before lunch scoring 133 runs continuing from his overnight score of 98.

In total he faced274 Balls&made an efficient score of 133(N/O)

Yuvarajsingh on the other hand(end) showed  how to bat Elegantly & technically continuing from his

overnight score of 24 to reach72..His batting was technically faultless&elegantly a treat to watch.He made

4 fours&2 sixes  timing all the 6 balls very well,Thats what we should call Technical BattingWith India 410/4 w/o loss of any wicket today ,could perhaps,make challenging score by the end of the

day.

So the Test match is becoming more &more interesting .

Let us await the outcome of the match until 19th Noveber

England being a Terrific team with Pieterson in the batting line up with captain Cook&Bell is not easy to defeat.They have their magic Bowler Swann also who has bagged all the 4 wickets fell in the Indian Innings.

So this Test Match is going to be a feast for Cricket fans.

                            Sreedharan mundanat
                            16th November2012

HAPPY DIWALI

Diwali is a Festival of Light&Sweets. Diwali also represents
the Triumph of Good over Evil.Diwali is celebrated all over India by different people differently by

bringing Mythological figures like Rama,Ravana,Durga,Lakshmi,Kali, and many more

according to their choice&convenience.But the most believed God on Diwali is ,certainly ,  Lord Ganesha

because no one can start celebrations without satisfying Ganesha first.

Nowadays being 3G,the flow of Text Msgs from cellphones is enormous , as if it is their  responsibility to

make cell phone companies richer.

If one could observe minutely some of the messages received by them,he/she would find that the term "PROSPERITY" is being used lavishly.

Some use the term "Prospects" also.

Is there any difference  between these two terms.Yes! certainly it has.

Prosperous:this term means Financially successful..

Prosperity :this term which is most popularly used  is nothing but the nownform  of "Prosperous"

Prospects:the meaning of this term is Chances of success& basically refers to the success of endeavour&

hard work done.

The term "PROSPERITY" is mostly used by businessmen who always keep one of ther eyes on Financial

profit.No matter how they earn it.That is why businessmen mostly use PROSPERITY in their Messages.

PROSPECTS on the other hand is a term to denote the success of their own hard work.

So it is for individuals to decide which  is more ideal term to use in their messages sent.

This opinion is more relevant now as the new generation is crazy in sending Messages  on occasions like

Diwali,Christmas,Bakrid,Onam ,Vishu&many more

This could be the reason why Pandit Javaharlal Nehru  in his book "Discovery of India "

referred her to"a land of  Unity& Diversity"

                                      SreedharanMundanat
                                      13th November2012