INDIA ACCEPTS A WELL DESERVED DEFEAT IN THE FINAL T20 MATCH AT MUMBAI

It is mystery surrounding the defeat.After Yuvraaj Singh had brought the game within Control to force an easy victory over England why all of a sudden,the match turned into a sorry affairs for the spectators at Mumbai is a question which is difficult to get an answer. The pacers Ashok Dinda& Parminder Awana contributed 86 runs out of 178 required by England. This kind of a match ,without changing the Bowler when Suresh Raina is readily Available, is a matter which needs answer .But then ,who bothers to answer when none looked like involved in the bowling .Balls were bowled as a matter of routine& not with eagerness to get wicket.At this rate the Game of Cricket would get ruined itself. Any ways,series not lost is the just one consolation left for the Spectators. In the Batting Department,Virat Kohli,Suresh Raina,Dhoni&Rohit Sharma excelled to take the match to a competitive 177 runs.England had to wait until last ball when they needed 3 runs from 1 ball. Now Arch rivals Pakistan would play their first onedayer at Bangalore on Christmas Day. whether the matches are going to be won by India or Pakistan ,only time can tell! SreedharanMundanat 22 ND December 2012

IndianCricket&Indian Hockey

Since a very long time ,it was India Hockey which dominated the Indian Games.Later on Indian Cricket had joined Hockey&gradually occupied the prominent place replacing Hockey especially in the later two faster version of the Game of cricket.Indian cricket won the word cup twice in the faster version of onedayers consisting of 50overs Later on India also won the World cup of the fastest version of Cricket popularly called TWENTY 20CRICKET orT20Cricket. Surprisingly today, both Indian Kockey &Cricket are at a point of Glory. Indian Hockey the current Asian Cup Champions had an equally surprising win over one of the Asian rivalsJAPAN.In the current Asian Championship of Hockey India had earlier won their first match against another rival CHINA also.But victory over Japan is an event to be proud of simply for the reason that the victory Margin was3 Goals to 1. Yet another surprise is that the overwhelming victory of Indian Cricket over the current Champions England in T20 cricket at a score of 158 over England's157 in just 18 0vers leaving behind 2 precious overs is a matter Indians could remember for a long time to come! Incidentally, tonight is the second &final game of the T20 series is scheduled to take place at the Wankhedes,Mumbai. In the last game,it was Yuvaraajsingh who made the win a reality with his AllRounder abilities. He was adjudged as the Player of the Match. As a good gesture of a Noble Man of Indian Cricket,he deicated the proceedings of this Honour for a NOBLE CAUSE. So let us wish all the Besty to Indian Cricketers to night &also wish they would get oportunity to onnce again to dedicate to another noble cause.There arte plenty of such noble causes in INDIA TODAY. SreedharanMundanat 22nd December2012 17-25 Hrs(IST)

A Sweet Revenge-Yuvraaj Singh begins with a Bang

As a matter of a sweet revenge to the recent debacle in Test Series against England,Yuvrajsingh began the T20 matches last night at Pune with a Bang! In Cricket there is a term "ALL ROUNDER" since the inception of cricket.In naming anyone as an All Rounder the criterion was that he should have proficiency in Batting,Balling&Fielding. But now, after the introduction of the 2 more versions of Cricket ,it would appear , ,the All Rounder status should be afforded only after taking into consideration the proficiency of a player not only in the 3 Departments of the Game but in the 3versi- ons,simultaneously with the departments, as well.If such a criterion is adopted by way of amendment to the rules of Cricket,perhaps there would be very few AllRounders in the World Cricket today &Yuvraaj Singh would get the first rank by virtue of hitting 6 Sixes in an over from Steward Broad of England in the very first T20 World Cup won by India under the Captaincy of M.S.Dhoni. In the first of the T20 matches against England in the current series, England started pretty well with the opening partnership between MJLumb&A.D.Hales until score reached 21 in just 3 overs.But Aswin trapped Lumb in front for a favourable decision ofLBW from the Umpire.Luke Wright joined Hales in the middle.They continued well with a good run rate until England reached 89 in the 11th over.Then came the first Bang from Yuvraaj Singh when he removed Luke Wright for 34 runs well caught by Rahane.score 89/2.Then came the second Bang from Yuvraajsingh when he bowled Hales for 56 runs ie just after an addition of just 10 runs at 99/3 in the 13th over. The third& final Bang came from Yuvraaj singh while England added just one run at 100/4 in the 13th over.This later on ,happened to be the Turning point of the game in favour of India. England, continued their innings strongly until they reached the 19th over when Dinda dismissed the dangerous Samit Patel for 24 again caught by Rahane.The score 138/5.The 3rd,7th,18th &20th overs helped England to reach a challenging score of 157/6, In the meantime Dinda had dismissed Bresnan for a duck caught by Kohli when the score was 139/6 JC.Buttler ,the man in gloves for England, did a good job with 33 runs (not out) with 3 sixes over the fence takingEngland to their final tally of 157/6 India needing 158 runs from 20 overs had a very good beginning from Gautam Gambhir& Rahane.Gambhir did hit a few to the fence&Rahane over the fence.Gambhir made 16& Rahane 19 whwn the first wicket of Gambhir fell at 42.Rahane followedv Gambhir soon after at 44.The score 44/2. This brought Virat Kohli&Yuvraaj together for some time.During this period Kohli made 21from 17 balls&Yuvaraj 38 from 21 balls. Yuvraaj was the first to return to pavilion but before going back he had his praiseworthy contribution of 3 sixes&2 fours.Kohli was not far behingd Yuvaraaj.He had made 2 fours. Yuvaraaj had fell at 93/3&Kohli 110/4 in the 10th&13th overs respectively. India needed yet another48 runs to win. Dhoni&Raina came together .Raina made 26 from 19 balls with 2 good hits one over the fence &the other to the fence.Raina had lost his wicket at 148/5 in the 17th over. Dhoni who assesed the situation well had made24 runs while reaching the target from 21 balls with 2 hits to the fence. Thus when they completed the honourable victory in the first match many fear whether England could react positively with a win for them in the nest match or concede defeat to the Hosts. The victory with more than 2 0vers to spare&the form of the players especially Yuvraaj Singh shoulkd be taken as an indication of something happening to India in their favour! In any case the match at Pune in which the first World Champion beating the Current Champions was indeed a treat to the eyes of many at Pune&those glued to TV sets all over India&abroad. The next encounter is scheduled for 22nd December night.

Finest Gift for Alistair Cook-A good Lesson for India

The England Captain Alistair Cook could,indeed ,enjoy the Birthday Christmas Gift from India.He is the Player of the Test Series also adding more color to their victory. India ,especially the spinners,should take this as a good Lesson from England for the future of India &as matter of fact as a punishment for blackening the reputation India enjoyed all over the world, from Spinners of yesteryears(Bedi,Chandrasekhar,Prasanna,Venkataraghavan,Anil Kumble,Hirwani& many more). But these kind of unfortunate happenings are not unusual in the Game of cricket.This had happened befor in other Nations also. What Indian Cricket should do now?A suitable balancing team of Pacers and spinners should be included in the Team by the selectors.Irfan Pathan is a good choice. Crying foul against the Captain alone should be stopped.It was not Captain M.S.Dhoni alone or a Sachin Tendulkar responsible for the Debacle. At the moment in India, there is no one capable of taking over captaincy except ,perhaps,Virat Kohli.But he needs a lot more experience to gain for accepting the responsibility .The best example is in front of him M.S.Dhoni. Virat Kohli knows better than anyone else how Dhoni as Skipper&Sachin as a player is valuable to the Team.He had said"All these years Sachin had carried us on his shoulders& it is now our turn to carry him on ourShoulders" after winning World Cup at Mumbai on 2nd April 2011.M.S.Dhoni has carried us just for 21 months now.So where&what is the Harm in carrying Indian Cricket for a few more years? To err is human!!Dhoni might have erred.So give him chance to correct himself instead of blaming him&above all Scahin. All the Best to Indian&England Teams in the forthcoming T20&OneDay Internationals series. It looks, the cookies wont crumble! SreedharanMundanat 19th December2012 17-15Hrs(IST)

Manorama Online | Malayalam News | Latest News |-A. Bold comment& Most deserving Gesture for Dhoni

Manorama Online | Malayalam News | Latest News |


The comments from the former Captain & one of the Best Test cricketers in the world.

It is rather surprising to note that the most celebrity former captain of India & his partner

have all of a sudden come forward with their controversial remarks.The same critics have not

yet completed even 21 months since they said differently about Skipper Dhoni of Indian Team.

It is a fact that M.S.Dhoni is an outspoken person.Sometimes people willnhave to behave that

way as a matter of a Skippers right.When he won World Cup bringing unexpected Glory for his

Motherland we didn't hear any kind of voice against him except praises & to some extent

Hero-worships.

Srilankans one of the best cricket playing people of the World especially When they play in

Asian countries were at the brink of establishing victory of yet another World Cup,it was

Skipper Dhoni &Yuvraaj Singh who rose to the occasion & forced a defeat on them in front

of the VVIP Croud & planted kisses on the coveted World Cup for a second time.

In the circumstances ,what Former Skipper Rahul Dravid said is perfectly correct & extremely

Logical.yes! It is not yet time for anyone to take over because no one is available in India

at the moment to take over the responsibility.

Of course, Virat Kohli is one of the Best Batsmen in India today.there is absolutely no

doubt about it.The little Master himself had mentioned this about Virat Kohli.He said

Addressing a Gathering in Mumbai that" The best batsman to follow my tradition & to break my

record is sitting in front of me now & I am sure he would do it one day"Apparently ,he was

Referring to Virat Kohli sitting in front of him.

We can not reasonably expect either the LittleMaster or Virat Kohli himself would endorse t

The views of the former cricketers,the drastic critics,said.

If at all any one likes to point out any lapse on Skipper Dhoni,it was the non inclusion of

Irfan Pathan in the test team.But M.S. Dhoni is not solely responsible for this.

So Skipper Dhoni should continue as long as he feels himself ready to call it a Day!

SreedharanMundanat
19 th December,2012

Root Cause for Indian Debacle--Unfortunate Loss of Poojara's Wicket

The root cause for the Debacle of India at Nagpur could reasonably be attributed to the loss of Thejeswar Poojara's wicket in the most unfortunate manner.This is an inference based on Media Stories. But, these kinds of happenings is nothing new in India.One could,perhaps,observe this kind of instances everywhere in India particularly among the rich.Infights are very common in India paving way for outsiders to derive undue advantages. Perhaps,this must be the reason why Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru described India as a land of Unity&Diversity.He has also mentioned about the imperturbability prevailing in Indiaas a tribute to this Holy Nation. So there is no wonder how such matters enter in the Game of Glorious Uncertainty! Incidentally, on the final day of the final Test there had been no obvious resistance from India.To put it in other words,the resistance caused by the unwillingness to win contributed towards the debacle against which, visibly,there had been no attempt to overcome it. England deserved all kinds of praise for taking the match to a drawn one thereby securing the break to 27 year old draught viz a series win in Indian soil. But the way in which they achieved the distinction was somewhat unbecoming of English tradition.Even their Arch rivals in "Ashes" might not have resorted to such a course of action. There was no harm done, had they made a sporting declaration at least one hour after Tea.Obviously, they were not only fearing the capability of Indian Batsmen but lacked confidence in their own Bowlers to force a win against India as well! There wasnt any need to prolong the game so late on the pretext of getting century for IanBell.Finally bell of century rang for him but there was no declaration forth coming. So Indian Captain M.S.Dhoni, towards the end of the final session as if to ramp up the sense of anticlimax handed over the ball to Gautam Gambhir to bowl. Perhaps, this gesture opened the eyes of the England Captain to declare at 352/4. Captain Dhoni promptly offered for a drwn match which was accepted by the England Counterpart. Finally in the post match Interview by the Commentators Captain Cook said,"there is a belief in India that Indian spinners alone could win matches in India&pacers can notdo it. I wanted to prove they are wrong&I did it" Though ,I am not aware of any Indian Captain publicly announce the way Captain Cook said,it is a fact that the spin TRIOChandrasekhar,Bsedi,Prasanna& later on Venkataraghavan had won many matches in India&abroad.Of course there was great reputation for Indians all over the world Perhaps,Alistair Cook was referring the first victory of India over England in the England sioil under the Captaincy of Ajit Wadekar when Chandrasekhar took 6 wickets in an Innings to put an end to England Supremacy. Or was it that prompted him to say so, a plain fact, that India had won two World cups in the past(The latest on 2nd Aopril,2011 at the Wankhedes,Mumbai under the captaincy ofM.S.Dhoni) whereas England are yet to plant kisses on a World Cup? Any ways,This series does appear to be one tending to becoming the reminder of tale of two indegenous Goats fighting & an observer, a Guest Forester deriving advantage out of it!! Congratulations to England&all the best to both Teams India&England to more enthusiastic encounters of of T20 matches&Oneday Internationals starting from the coming Thursday,20th December2012. SreedharanMundanat 17thDecember 2012 17-40Hrs(IST)

Plan by India&England for Fourth Day at Nagpur

The Indian first innings continued from the overnight score of 297/8 this morning. R.Aswin&Pragyan Ojha arrived at the crease They took almost 20 minutes to reach 300 ,the first step needed under the circumstances.Aswin as far as possible kept strike for himself.As soon as they completed 300 Runs,they opened up &started scoring a bit faster.The changed tactics, it seemed, well observed by Captain Alistair Cook who also introduced a new plan of going slow with the game as was obvious from the tactics he employed to discuss with his bowlers very frequently. In the meantime Aswin&Pragyan Ojha continued with scoring.Howeve,Monte Panesar struck on time to put an ed to their patnership by removing Ojha when the score was 317 in the 141st over of the Innings. It was a lucky breakthrough for Monte Panesar.It was not the same expertedness he had shown at Mumbai&Kolkatta.Ojha was out because of a batsman's error .Instead of playing to the Legside of the left hander ,he played on to the offside. Unfortunately the ball took an inner edge &played on to the stumps.Thus he got the just one wicket after bowling 52 overs coceding 81 runs. unlike Mumbai&Kolkatta, his dividend for such a long efforts was just one wicket!! After the fall of Ojha Ishant Sharma joined Aswin .He managed just 2 runs but gave support to Aswin who scored29 runs. When they reached 326 just 4 runs short of England,Dhoni all of a sudden declared , perhaps, after noticing the slow tactics of Alistair Cook&in view of the fact that one hour had already elapsed in scoring just 29 runs. England resumed their second knock. Captain Alistair Cook&NRD Compton started slowly .Cook took 93 balls to score just 13 runs out of a total of 48 runs when he fell well caught by Dhoni Bowled Aswin. It was a better dividend or rather a bonus for the Indians to get Captain Cook out so early.What a paradoxical wicket it was! England continued with Comton&Trott who joined him.Compton fell at 81 in the 47th over trapped in front by Pragyan Ojha. K. Pietersen joined Trott.They together added 13 runs when Pietersen fell to a clever ball from Ravindra Jadeje which he misread to shatter his off stump. England score read 94/3.Pragyan Ojha had dismissed him in the first innings also. Thereafter,Ian Bell joined Trott &continued until stumps finishing at a good score of 161/3.Trott remained not out with 66&Ian Bell with a handy24 runs. Thus the third session belonged to England. Until&Unless England makes a sporting declaration with a lead of maximum 225 runs,there does not appear to have any reasonable chance for India to level the series Or otherwise,India should dismiss England earlier.It is a remote probability for such a happening except a miracle taking place during the second knock of England! So tomorrow is yet another Day on which anything could happen. The only consolation left behond India is the popular saying"Cricket is a Game of Glorious Uncertainty!! SreedharanMundanat 16th December 2012 20-20Hrs(IST)