mere funde

Year: 2006

  • The best goal ever!!

    A tribute to Maradona on 20 years of his magic!!!

    Behold!! The true magician is at work!!

  • Goal of the WC2006!!

    From the best team ever. Argentina!!

  • Review: India vs WI (2nd Test)

    For second time in as many test matches India has faced the situation of being “so near, yet so far.”

    India did dominate the second test right from the word go and if it had not been for the rain gods the series would now have had been 1-0 instead of 0-0. Even so, I would like to point out a few crucial errors that India made during the course of the match.

    First of all, for the umpteenth time now it has been established that Kaif is not a good fielder in close catching positions and yet Dravid would have him field there. He has missed crucial chances there, and that is because of his natural instincts being a cover fielder, which has cost India dearly.

    Second, the Indian field placing was pretty tame on the last day considering that India had nothing to lose and there was no way that India could have lost the match. Also defying logic was the placing of fielders at certain positions they are not suited for. Dravid himself was fielding at second slip, a departure from his usual first slip position for no apparent reason. Even Sehwag, a pretty good slip fielder, was missing from the slip cordon. Dravid grassing a catch (imagine Ganguly in the same position) in the closing stages did not help matters either.

    Third, and most importantly, India failed to think out of the box. As Prem Panicker suggests (here), India could have replaced Laxman (why is he in the team again??) with Suresh Raina and could have thought of more unconventional field placings. Also Yuvraj could have been made to bowl a couple of his ultra slow ones just as a change. But then such things come with experience, and I sure hope Dravid is learning fast.

    The rain, the lbw decisions (first Australia and now here, they do have something against us these damned lbws’) and at times the limited experimentation by Indian think tank have let the Carribeans pull off a Houdini yet again.

    As Gaurav Sabnis puts it (here) in the words of the inimitable Crime Master Gogo “haath ko aaya, moonh na lagaaya.” Lets hope that the next one would be more like another of his famous quips “Aaya hoon, kuch toh leke jaoonga.”

  • Foot in Mouth Disease

    Mr. Dave Richardson (see post below), ICC's General Manager, has now been diagnosed  to have been suffering from the foot in mouth disease. Renowned experts came to the conclusion after analysing Mr. Richardson's latest effort to justify Mr. Brian Lara's on field behaviour (here).

    "Lara is a renowned player, a famed cricketer. He got frustrated (after) the umpire forced the players to make a decision. He did get a little frustrated, snatching the ball from the umpire, but he certainly did not show dissent," he told NDTV.

    Also, a symptom was his pathetic attempt to justify the fine imposed on Virender Sehwag.

    "The Sehwag incident was unfortunate. ICC wants to cut down on excessive appealing. We want to prevent players, tell them not to put too much pressure on umpires. In Sehwag's incident, it was a case of not appealing. He slipped up (on that account)."

    So here you have it. Snatching the ball from the umpire, not dissent. Celebrating for a wicket you claimed = bad behaviour.

    Update: Pedro Collins was "reprimanded" for being guilty of guilty of "the practice of celebrating a dismissal before the decision has been given," by Jeff Crowe. Did some one say double standards??

  • A Tale of Two Gentlemen

    The following post has been cross posted on the Pavilion Seat blog with minor changes.

    What do you think was the most significant umpiring error made during the first WI-India test match??

    1. Declaring Chris Gayle not out?
    2. Declaring Shivnarine Chanderpaul out caught?
    3. The Dhoni out/not out fiasco?
    4. The Bradshaw decision?

    Me. None of the above. I think it was

    5. Fining Sehwag for over appealing and “celebrating a dismissal before the decision has been given”.

    Imagine a scenario, wherein Lara gets off without even a reprimand for a behaviour which our “mann” Holding termed “insolent“, and in the same Sehwag gets fined for over-appealing. You got to be kidding me. Was Jeff Crowe (match referee) drunk when Lara unfolded what I think has been the worst example of on-field behaviour in recent times?? It is like letting a murderer go away and punishing someone for walking on a lawn!!!

    It is a common notion that Asians are not given a fair deal when such rules are interpreted. And this is not the first time that this has happened to an Indian. Remember the Mike Denness fiasco, when almost half the Indian side (including Sehwag, Bhajji, Ganguly) was hauled up for over-appealing, while the South Africans got away with worse (Andre Nel clearly abusing Ganguly). I think it was Ganguly (supported by a Dalmiya ruled BCCI) who stood up and complained. The order of world cricket was on the brink of a split when ICC and BCCI backed off and tensions were eased. Alas, such an action may not be repeated anymore.