Chokers deliver repeat serving again !!

A target of 214 with 7 batsmen should have been easy against any attack but as usual, India contrived to continue with their 'ULTIMATE CHOKERS' tag. Aussies had just 1 real wicket taking quality bowler Lee but somehow Indian batsmen after batsmen (and that includes Rahul Dravid) decided to mess up rather than put up a fight.
I had been asking for Dinesh Mongia for a long time and he proved to be valuable with a decent spell as well as ended up as top scorer. SRT's scores against Aussies in big matches have been disappointing for a long time and that is the reason, I am still unable to accept him as the greatest, as touted time and again by the pundits. As far as the rest of the pack, they are a woeful, awful bunch, who can not kunckle down and deliver when it counts most.
The bowlers performed incredibly well with Bhajji delvering a stand out spell but the repeat acct of the chokers killed the day for the Indians. Dravid and Greg need to re-examine it all, if they want redemption in Champions trophy.

Indian bowlers pull it off

WI virtually gave away the match even before the 1st ball was bowled by going in with just 3 regular bowlers but even with that 2nd class lot, Indian batsmen messed up (What is new?). Who is this DR Smith, who swallowed the top order ? Well - Smith has some 30 wickets in 45 odd matches but he was suddenly put on a pedestal by the tentative Indian batsmen, who batted as if they had closed their eyes. The way Viru and Yuvi got out suggested that both of them are not in the great knick and Indian think tank might need a re-think about the batting line up. I will recommend Mongia in place of Yuvi, going by current form and Mongia can also roll his arms over against spin suspect Aussies. Sachin batted wonderfully but could have accelerated a vee bit more and it took some good bifs from the sardar before a decent total could come up on the board.
When Indian bowled, the first 40 odd runs came without a problem but suddenly WI collapsed all of a sudden and with Lara coming in so late and W.Hinds scoring 8 out 58 balls, the rest was easy for Indian bowlers. India now, lives to fight another day against Aussies but with both Lee and McGrath back, any target above 225 will be difficult for India. If India bats first, any target set by them can be achieved by Aussies thanks to friendly Indian attack.

Lara's Blitz almost eliminates India

It required the full flowing brilliance of Brian Lara to conquer Aussies but WI almost made a hash of things before Bravo put in a brave show to see them through. I think that the fortunes for WI turned for good during that long 11 ball Clarke over (30th), when 23 runs came of it and wheels came off; Lee created some scares but Bravo batted well enough to see WI win. This means that India is virtually eliminated for all practical purposes since they have to win both their next matches and hope for other equations to work in their favor. I think it is hard for India to even overcome WI at this form leave alone Aussies.

Rain Gods show mercy on clueless India

The script was looking all too familiar. Some unknown bat decides to feast on innocous offerings of India which is followed by absolute mayhem, while facing some decent quality bowling. Shane Watson, till recently confined to number 8 or thereabouts was asked to open and he decided to take on the Indian trundlers. Bhajji and to some extent Viru applied the brakes (I am simply amazed - why was Powar not playing ? What is the use of having RP Singh or what has happened to Pathan ?) and in the end it was a reasonable, attainable total. But, when India batted, the old story repeated itself and half the side was back in the hut thanks to young Mitchell Johnson, who incidentally is flying back due to the Aussie rotation policy. Indian batsmen start having butterflies and go tentative, the moment they face some quality pace bowling and it was repeated shamelessly again. McGrath was too good too and applied the pressure from the other end and it would have been sub 100 score but for the rains. India live to fight for another day but believe me, they won't reach the final with such shoddy performance.

Tendulkar's brillance and Indian Bowlers' LARGESSE

I don't mind eating humble crow on SRT - man ! what a treat it was. There were all round gasps everywhere and the power he unleashed in those 6s was breathtaking but all his brilliance, India still came short thanks to the largesse of the ineffective pace bowling + D &L questionable 20 over limit law. SRT could have gone early (he was dropped by WI keeper) but he capitalized on the let off and built an awesome inning, which could termed marvelous considering that it is the 1st come back match for him, after such a long lay off. The only minor observation I had to point out is the high number of dots in Tendu's inning. If he could have controlled that, 175 kind of score would have been possible for him easily.
As far as the Indian bowling, the less said the better. They are going to await another solid round of pasting from the Aussie bats and as usual Dravid will come back home empty with no cup.

India-WI preview - Can they hit WI spinners?

The normal assumption will be that Indians can play spin eyes closed but believe me - this is far from true. Right from the old times when an unknown John Bracewell of NZ strangled India in B'bay of all places, to when an Englishman, 37 year old 3 test experienced Shan Udal cleaned them out; it almost looks inexplicable that they can not get into off-spinners. In the recent WI series (when India got beaten 1-4), if one would have carefully noticed, Gayle and Samuels pushed in 20 overs for measly runs against players, who are supposed play this kind of fastish, non-turning offspin, even blind; but the Indian bats looked as if walking on fire and did almost nothing against such innocous bowling. This same duo will try and repeat the same tactics again today and strangle India. I am not sure whether Chappel and Dravid have thought of anything different, other than thinking of sending Viru down. I am not in much favor with this move since SRT-RD opening will not give the momentum required, in my opinion. All in all I feel that another disappointing end awaits the Indian viewers.

DLF Cup - Chanderpaul Dazzles but WI loose

There is an old saying in cricket 'Don't take anything for granted until the fat lady sings'. The Aussie outfit, even with a load of upcoming talent simply refused to cave in to the aggressive tactics of Gayle and Chanderpaul(Gayle -not a great surprise, he is a dasher but Chanderpaul took a new Avatar and the 4s and 6s that poured from his bat looked unreal, almost - a la Saeed Anwar kind of swaps and slaps). Anyway, the end result was pretty much as expected - an Aussie win. After a woeful and horrendous batting display by the rest of WI bats, the familiar story of Green bags winning repeated itself. Mcgrath looked sharp enough in his come back and the rest were a decent professional lot in the field to close out an easy win in the end.

India begins their 1^st match on Thursday without Yuvaraj Singh but even with him, the chances of an India win against the reserve Aussie outfit looks slim at best. The type of wickets which might suit India are the slow and low tracks but the Malaysian pitches look anything but that. India can at best not repeat its mistakes against West Indies in the recent tour (when they were trounced 1-4) and hope for some significant luck to favor them in the finals against Aussies. All eyes will be on SRT but my own guess on his form is that he will need more time in the middle than the school boy stuff at Lashings or created situations like the practice matches in MAC last week. All in all, I feel that another disappointment awaits Indian cricket lovers.