Ber is 11/3 in 5.4 overs. This match is fixed. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Not by bookies, but by Ber amateur cricketers.
This indian team is not going to win anything anytime in the near future. We need a good captain and coach like Ganguly and Wright were between 2001 to 2004. (2005 Ganguly was a horrible captain so that does not count).
Good thing india does not go to super 8. It would be humiliated more. The gap in terms of ability and strategy between india and Australia/SA is really huge. Such clean hitting against such good bowling. Shaun Pollock went for some 83 runs. India made him Man-of-the-series when we played him last. And the SA batsmen were treating Australian bowlers with contempt too. Only the wrist spinner was successful. And what good strategy too. The way SA bowlers were operating in the slog was instuctional. They packed the offsite field with 7 fielders in the offside and only midwicket and long on on the onside and bowler yorkers wide outside off. They were largely successful and gave runs only when Ntini and Kallis strayed onto leg. The current indian bowlers cannot do that, firstly because the coach/captain has not strategically evolved, and secondly because the it needs a lot of discipline to bowl like that. Imagine Agarkar or Zaheer bowling yorkers on the same spot!
We need a good commited coach who can bring discipline to our team. The underarmer was wrong from the very beginning. We can only hope that sometime in the future that can happen.
Some folks in India have tendency to look for a messiah to save them from all the ills. Cricket is no exception. In real world, it does not work that way. Winning is a very disciplined effort.
It starts with following steps:
1) Right team selection
2) Players executing their roles in the team
3) Cricketing intelligence (or strategy). This is where coach, captains and other senior staffs play a crucial role
Sometimes we fail. It is an understandable part of life. The reason victory is precious because it is achieved through dedicated efforts not through a magic wand.
If we keep harping on the coach then the real problems will not get addressed. What that means is we will be back to square one during next world cup or any other major tournament.
We have to stop looking for a messiah (Chappel or anybody else) who will deliver us. It is our dedication and hard work combined with talent and strategy that will deliver us.
Also, I strongly disagree with the notion that we should not even try just to avoid humiliation. In my humble opinion the worst kind of humiliation is when people give up even before trying. There is nothing wrong with trying and failing. There is everything wrong with not trying.
03-26-2007, 02:45 AM (This post was last modified: 03-26-2007, 02:52 AM by narayanan.)
Alloooo!!! Don't give up yet.
Match reduced to 21 overs. Bermuda 94.
<b>BD 37 for 3. </b>
13 overs left, 7 wickets left, required run rate is only 4.something.
BD still has the advantage, but...... <!--emo&:tv--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tv_feliz.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tv_feliz.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Hold on to your chairs, and invoke all the spirits u can to motivate the Bermudans and put the odd banana peel under the BD batting feet...
Oh Brave BD Batters!
May ur bat get caught in ur boot laces as you run for that cheeky second run
May ur boot studs come through the sole of ur boot and force u to retire hurt just when u were cutting loose (this is how my glorious career as Opening Batsman for my college ended...)
May you trip and hit the wicket with the bat as you follow through that huge hook shot ...
May ur abdo guard buckle snap due to ur potbelly, just as the ball misses the outside edge of ur bat, causing the umpire to give u out caught behind...
May u mistakenly take a leg stump guard instead of a leg-and middle, and smartly "shoulder arms" to a ball that u thought was pitched 1 inches outside the off-stump... <!--emo&:devil--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devilsmiley.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='devilsmiley.gif' /><!--endemo-->
May ur bat handle slip due to all that cold sweat from the tension in ur hands, and that straight drive turn into a skied outside edge straight up to the bowler.
May ur bat catch on ur pad buckle as u go forward, so that ur pad meets the ball ahead of the bat... plump in front of the stumps...
...and more to come from where those benedictions came.. <!--emo&:devil--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devilsmiley.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='devilsmiley.gif' /><!--endemo-->
And most of all... REMEMBER THAT CELL-PHONE NUMBER FROM Mian "Dawood"... if u could just leave that ball heading for the middle stump... imagine driving a Corvette in Khulna..
Bermuda should fight hard. I would hate to see Bermuda leave this world cup without winning a single match. This is their god given opportunity. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
On a separate note, I am this close to giving up my Indian citizenship and becoming a Sri Lankan citizen. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
03-26-2007, 02:54 AM (This post was last modified: 03-26-2007, 02:54 AM by narayanan.)
51 for 3, and RRR is going down, not up.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Tucker to Mohammad Ashraful, 2 runs, Almost caught! Pure drama. Full and on the middle, Ashraful went for a lofted stroke - another risky shot, the adrenalin must be kicking in- and it floated behind mid-on. Pitcher was slow to react, turned, ran behind and even threw in a dive but it just eluded him. Bangladeshi fans would have sighed in relief, Indian fans would have been left muttering .....<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Regarding match fixing, I have a strong feeling Bob Woolmer was involved into this thing. Or why else someone will strangle him? After all, he was in it for money.
03-26-2007, 03:03 AM (This post was last modified: 03-26-2007, 03:06 AM by narayanan.)
Of course I am watching text commentary, and trying to send a few benedictions to the BD batsmen through the internet. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo-->
More of the same needed: DON'T B NERVUSS YAAR!!!
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Leverock to Mohammad Ashraful, no run, pushed to gully, Saqbul sets off for a run, sent back, scampers back hom<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Next time pls try to get ur laces caught as u turn around to scamper back home onlee...
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Leverock to Saqibul Hasan, no run, attempted slog, Saqibul doesnt get to the pitch and misses, gets his foot back in time to avert a stumping<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
One thing Bermudans can try is tactfully block the path of the BD batsmen when they are trying to run for a run. Bermudans got plenty of big players to do this task. This will get BD batsmenâs heart pumping for few seconds and may force them to make some mistakes.
Sorry, I am not a big fan of benedictions. I like to take matters into my own hands. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bangladesh require another 13 runs with 7 wickets and 33 balls remaining <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->It's over <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Borden just gave another wide. Now my anger is switching towards Bermuda. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Kho-Kho, here I come! <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I am very disappointed. Not only the indian batsmen, the indian bookies are also overrated. The best bookies on paper could not fix a match between two minnows. <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Cricket is an Imperialist, Colonialist, Elitist, Macaulayite game set up to demoralize Hindus.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Add Islamist also.
<!--emo&:bhappy--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/b_woot.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='b_woot.gif' /><!--endemo-->
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Not by bookies, but by Ber amateur cricketers.
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo--> 
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->