The curious case of Shaun Tait

Once again there was much hype in the Australian media and the man himself on his speed and also that he will rip through the Indian batting like butter. Sadly he failed at everything... From bowling extraordinarily fast, walking the talk or be a handful to the Indian batsmen. If R.P. Singh preferred facing Tait and accordingly Laxman shielded him from playing the other bowler, it pretty much sums up his disastrous outing. Ricky Ponting hardly got him to bowl as very time he came on, he looked a...

What a Jaffer of an innings

Wasim Jaffer pummeled the Pakistan bowlers on day 1 of the second test at Eden gardens, Kolkatta, with an absolutely brilliant 192*, to take India to 352/3 at the end of the day's play. The day started with plenty of melodramatics from Shoaib Akhtar, who on a normal day when he is so-called fit, runs out of steam in 3 overs, was now attempting to bowl with his viral infection and ended up giving Pakistan a huge liability to face with. It was like a "bold and the the beautiful" soap serial wit...

1st test: India beat Pakistan by 6 wickets

The formalities were over... India beat Pakistan by 6 wickets. To me it was a boring test match with very ordinary cricket played. The score line indicates a tough contest and yes, it was tough for both teams but I am generally disappointed by the quality of cricket played. There were flashes of brilliance in every department but was also lost in very ordinary batting from both the sides. At the end of the day, India came through because they had a better batting line-up than Pakistan and the di...

Day 2 – Laxman & Dhoni hold the fort as Pakistan dents India

At the end of play on Day 1, I had perceived that the Indians would not find it easy batting in their first innings and Pakistan pretty much had a great day today to knock the stuffing out of the Indian batting line-up, ending the day's play at 228/6 with Laxman remaining unbeaten on 57. Earlier in the day, India restricted Pakistan to 231, after a rather bizarre dismissal of Misbah-Ul-Haq, who has also now developed the knack of getting out in the craziest of ways. Misbah was out for 82,...

Pakistan tour of India – ODI series, tour report

After 24 years, India won the ODI series (3-2) at home against Pakistan. Yet for many like me who watched the series, it was not remotely as interesting, hard fought and nail biting matches that would typically happen in an India-Pakistan clash. While the series score line might read as 3-2, indicating a tough series, it was pretty much a walk-in-the park for the Indian team and the two loses show that India is far from molding a team able to perform with a good level of consistency. Out ...