< 1 minute read“So I curl up behind him like this and then you give him a shove.” India’s clown tactics were all well and good in theory, but when it came to carrying them out with an actual batsman present, everyone got confused and Sourav Ganguly ended up with a black eye.
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When is a country too dangerous to tour?
2 minute readTim May, chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers Associations, explains why Australia are likely to tour India, but wouldn’t visit Pakistan (like usual) for the Champions Trophy: “Pakistan has had 66 suicide bombings within its country over the past 12 months with over 3,000 people killed and 17
Continue readingIndia’s dog turd fixture list
< 1 minute readIf you want to see the technology of tomorrow, today: go to Japan. If you want to see the cricketing fixture lists of tomorrow, today: look to India. India have never played a home Test against Bangladesh, despite the latter being a Test team since 2000. They don’t want to,
Continue readingZaheer Khan wins an ODI with the ball
< 1 minute readAnother one-day international is decided with the ball. Huzzah. It went the other way this time, however. Zaheer Khan took 4-21 and Sri Lanka crumpled like a supermarket receipt to 142 all out. We’re increasingly thinking that if there’s swing, you want Zaheer Khan in your side. Bowlers continued to
Continue readingIndia change their batting faces to no great effect
< 1 minute read‘Bye bye Sachin, Rahul, Sourav and VVS, the new generation are here now. You guys are past it, but we’ll conquer Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan with ease.’ This is what India’s glittery one-day batting line-up might have said, but it would have been followed by a bit of a
Continue readingMendissed-out
< 1 minute readWe can’t believe none of you have got anything to say about Andrew Strauss’s slow transformation into a slightly defective Blockatron 9000. We were sure you’d have strong feelings about that. How about Sri Lanka beating India? Have you got thoughts about that? We’re rather hoping that you do, because
Continue readingVirender Sehwag defies pretty much everyone and everything
< 1 minute readMurali. Vaas. Mendis. A pitch with one wet end and one cracked end. Rain. Reason. Virender Sehwag defied them all. Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly mustered seven between them. Gautam Gambhir had a lot of luck to edge his way to 56. VVS Laxman hung around for a bit. The tail
Continue readingCricket’s Champions Leagues
2 minute readThe Board of Control for Cricket in India, the BCCI, wishes to run a Champions League featuring Twenty20 sides from around the world. The BCCI backs the IPL Twenty20 league and says sides featuring players from the rival ICL can’t appear in its Champions League. Various county cricketers have played
Continue readingSri Lankan tactics
< 1 minute readSri Lanka have always had a good plan when playing at home, but it did have one slight flaw. Someone had to bowl at the other end. If you’re a touring side batting in a Test in Sri Lanka, you effectively play two different matches. At one end, you counter
Continue readingIt’s Mahela Jayawardene at the SSC. Again.
< 1 minute readIf Sanath Jayasuriya’s catchphrase would be ‘ha-haaaa‘, then Mahela Jayawardene’s ought to be just silence. He’s not speaking because he’s concentrating. Jayawardene averages near enough a hundred at Galle, but it’s at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground that he REALLY likes batting. No-one’s ever scored more Test runs at a
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