India vs Sri Lanka 2008 in Sri Lanka, Second One-dayer
As it has been in recent times, I'm separated from cricket on TV and consigned to solitary confinement with live text commentary. Tuned in to that for long hours can play with your mind....you cease to think as you would and begin to think like the man who types in the words at the other end. It's almost like the way Tony Greig's smooth voice insinuates itself almost unnoticed into your mind through verbal commenrtary...then you realize and you shake it off. Ditto with live text, but shaking it of all the time can only lead to a greater risk of a crick in the neck.
But the questions remain which the live text commentator chose not to answer, or did not recieve, How did Badri play today? Did he earn his keep? Did he plug a hole? Did he debunk a growing neo-gen myth? Can Amit Misra take hope from this?
Now I await you instead, those who might have watched it unlike me. What time are the highlights (Indiatime)? How did he play Mendis, recently very much a Potterine "Bogart" for Indians?
Zak had a rare moment in limited overs cricket today it appears. Harks back to that time when he bowled at the Ozzies so many years ago when he was a handsome young man ladies swooned upon and we thought we had our Akram.
Some recent Badri Bytes at this blog
- Badri With a Chance to Flatter - 11 Comments
- Badri With a Dash of Bitter - 16 Comments
- ODI Teams Announced - 14 Comments
Some likeable stuff from Dhoni -
1) On dealing with pressure in this series - No team meetings, we have seen enough and discussed in depth, a thousand things are discussed at team meetings, now it is time for each to find a way to tackle a particular player.
{This is almost like us! The way we take breaks from our blogging/forumming! I'll give him a point for this today}
2) Badri is a young man after all! - It is good to see a young man like Badri come and play...and so on...or words to that effect.
Finally, Zak is MOM. Now how long ago was it that he was MOM in an ODI? Must be before he bowled to the Ozzies (them again) in that African WC final.
Good show Zak!
What is also noticeable is that Sri Lankan pacers appear to be bowling better now. Vaasy used to be the lone ranger till Malinga joined him. Isn't it that Lanka is working more securely towards being the best Asian team, if not of the world?
22 comments:
he only re-assured our faith that he is ready...25 odd runs never tells you the truth...but he was not really perturbed by the mendis menace and seems to play him on merit of bowl rather than his reputation...that too at first attempt...
kohli to seem relatively confident against him before he threw it away...to hand over the mental to badri...so thats two definite plus from todays game along with cool captain and of course zak...
but i am not sure if this still is good combination in terms of batting order...
YS is sitting duck against mendis and india will be better of him coming at no.3 if not opening the innings...good flourish at top solid middle and captain cool comin later to finish the innings is the way to go from now on...
i think india should start with 220ish score in mind and then build on that...what say?
but BDQ is who will make way for GG in next match...rohit or pathan?
25 odd runs never tells you the truth...but he was not really perturbed by the mendis menace and seems to play him on merit of bowl rather than his reputation...that too at first attempt...
Tht is what I wanted to hear, SP. I feared to hear something else.
Kohli, at this stage of his career, is a better all-round player than Kaif, Sodhi or Yuvraj were at a comparable time in their lives. e is also the one who will have a better all-round career than the three...but, if he is messed around this way, before more maturity, he'll join the ranks of the three talented players.
YS is sitting duck against mendis and india will be better of him coming at no.3 if not opening the innings..
That was never a secret SP...he is a lollipop to spinners.
However, do you advocate (as others have also) that a team batting order must be dictated by inabilities rather than abilities? :)
agreed he was like this before too...but it has started to become embarrassingly predictable...
there is never harm in bit of reshuffling if some one seems stuck against one particular...batting or bowling wise both...
it has become a benchmark of sorts today that we used to say in our gully cricket...
'abey usske aagey khel ke dikha to jaanu...'
its neither helping ys nor india so i would adopt this policy for time being...
btw...i am interested to know what you feared... :)
What little I saw of Badri was reassuring. His temperament matched Dhoni's during the crucial phase.
His handling of Mendis and Murali was just what the doctor ordered for India.
However, I think the best innings played today was Kohli's. Absolutely amazed at how he handled Mendis.
I felt that Indians played Mendis with much more assurance than before.
However it is also good to keep in mind that Yuvi failed and Rohit, Raina and Irfan left too early for us to learn how they would have handled Mendis.
Bottom line - India has four assured players of spin - Gauti,Badri,Kohli and Dhoni.
(Mind you the win could have coloured my opinion.)
What if you open with Yuvi and DPMDJ opens with Murali and Mendis to hunt down the concerned player?
Isn't it a tad embarrassing to be running up and down the order when with far lesser effort at polishing your game would have obviated the need for this "daud" and made you a super all round player?
Now, we either face this embarrassment of having to run around with a part-time player (partly qualified) or suffer quietly, helplessly, in 9/10 innings he plays against spinners.
SP...I have this uncanny ability to jinx people/teams with a few words of sincere praise or even by watching them play.
Look at India in cricket or the boxers of India...or Saina Nehwal..I feared I had done him in before it all began!
What little I saw of Badri was reassuring. His temperament matched Dhoni's during the crucial phase.
His handling of Mendis and Murali was just what the doctor ordered for India.
Ottayan, I have known you as a man who is not easily given to heap praise. You carry an unwavering critical eye which doesn't bow down to loyalties.
I am reassured to hear those words from you.
Are there highlights scheduled and if so, at what time?
very true OTT...
is it just a coincidence that both kohli and badri who played mendis properly...were new kids on block...in a way that there was no past baggage of dismissals against them...?
but dhoni too should be praised the way he played mendis...at time he can look ugly...but he plays with price tag on his wicket despite being short on technical aspects...but he makes up with determination of staying there to finish...
he came as dasher and now has changed his game to the requirement of team and situation rather than giving excuse of 'natural game'...
good point soulberry - "do you advocate (as others have also) that a team batting order must be dictated by inabilities rather than abilities? :)"
except that, in this case, there is no ability to speak of because the team doesn't have a single opener left. pathan averages less than 30 as an opener and kohli is a newbie. yuvi may be better qualified than them to open, apart from strategy.
I have no idea about the highlights.
Thanks Ott...I'm home now and have checked that up.
Sumit, yes, as a matter of immediate adjustmen for the present, yes.
SP, One Kitlpy before the first ODI at Dambulla ahead of this match is all the baggage this team is carrying. That's only about 20 overs of Mendis (if he has bowled his quota of 10 each in both matches which I doubt)...I think the test team has a greater baggage!
It is just the desire and approach. The ones who have most to gain are putting in the maximum effort in focussing their eye, computing the parameters ball faster, moving their feet appropriately and using their arms (and by extention their bat) in an adequate manner. They haven't anything yet with them and want to have a greater share of it all rather than a mere look-see. Hence, they go through the necessary hoops...
With youngsters who haven't put in enough of the tough days and nights on and off the field, a swank car which comes and parks itself outside their door with the first sign of talent, can whisk them away to splendorous dreamlands away from the heat and dust of the country and field. It is then difficult to focus one's eyes on the army footsoldier called Mendis.
The match was won by Zaheer and Badri, but India's batting woes continue they lost 7 wickets chasing that meager total and as Mahela said he was only 1 wicket away from victory.
I see a bit of Shoaib Akhtar in Yuvi, he is talented but he has some loose screws his extra curricular activities are ruining his career.
sb - I'm so glad you asked this one. I was barely a few lines into SP's comment and i had to write.
and here it is -
http://nakedcricket.blogspot.com/2008/08/who-are-you-badrinath-its-not-easy.html
cheers to badri!
How was Badri? Good debut... he played the M&M without any real bother, as though he didn't care of their reputations... was cautious though.... I wish he bats a bit higher.
Soulberry, he seems solid enough for a Dravid-supporter to cheer on! I am already turning into a Badri fan. He deserves a Test spot over Rohit Sharma or Yuvraj.
India's batting woes continue
Inescapable fact Wasim. Absolutely correct and worrisome.
One bright lining appears to be what our fellow cricket lovers seem to have observed...the refreshing unburdened approach brought by him to the current problem of Mendis. The brighter lining is that this unbiased mind from without may help shape the mindset of those who have been in the trenches for a while.
That's a brilliant poem Gaurav! I am now able to imagine what he must have played like.
How was Badri? Good debut... he played the M&M without any real bother, as though he didn't care of their reputations... was cautious though.... I wish he bats a bit higher.
Scorpi man, you cannot keep a good man down for long. Look for his position on the test team...I'm waiting for that and has greater value.
I hope Badri succeeds in both forms of the game for two reasons - 1) players must not give up when the selectorial ring doesn't arrive on your 19th birthday, or the next, or the one after...and 2) the selectors will once again be reminded to maintain that essential wider vision above the lips of immediacy, bias and glitter...when our own Haydens are emerging at 27s 28s and 29s.
Badri would have done yoeman's service to Indian cricket and domestic Indian cricketers if he can succeed in both forms. The same applies to Amit Mishra when his time comes.
It is a responsibility players like Badri have and must shoulder and the priviliges forthcoming from their success will be truly enjoyable and sincere from us all.
The beauty of it all Victoria is no one sees it or knows till they try it. Badri is here by default, and not by first choice. It tells us captains (they definitely have a say in selectorial matters unless too puppetish ) and selectors are also human and suffer the same failings.
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